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V 







FAST IN THE ICE 




I 


ADVENTURES IN THE POLAR REGIONS. 




o' 


By R.<> M. BALLANTYNE, 

AUTHOR OF “ UNQAVA,” “HUDSON’S BAT,” “ COBAL ISLAND,” ETC. 


WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PHILADELPHIA; 

DAVIS, PORTER & CO., 21 SO. SIXTH ST. 
1 8 G 5. 







% to t,%. 


k 


NOTE 


PLAN OF THIS MISCELLANY. 

Therb is a vast amount of interesting^ information, on 
almost all subjects, which the great mass of young persons 
eannot attain to because of the expense, and, in some in* 
stances, the rarity of the books in which it is contained. 

To place some of this information, in an attractive form, 
within the reach of those who cannot afford to purchase 
expensive books, is the object and aim of this Miscellany. 

Truth is stranger than fiction, but fiction is a valuable 
assistant in the development of truth. Both, therefore, shall 
be used in these volumes. Care teUI be taken to insure, as 
far as is possible, that the /acts stated shall be true, and that 
the impreeaxona given shall be^uthful. 

As all classes, in every age, have proved that tales and 
stories are the most popular style of literature, each volume 
of the series (with, perhaps, one or two exceptions) will con- 
tain a complete tale, the heroes and actors in which, together 
with the combination of circumstances in which they move, 
shall be more or less fictitious. 

In writing these volumes, the author will earnestly endea- 
vor to bear in remembrance those words of Scripture,— 

Whatsoever ye do,'do sdl to the glory of God.” 

‘^Ballakttnb’s MiscblijAnt” w^ consist of about twenty 
volumes, published in a unifomr>rftyle, a list of which is 
appended. 


IN COURSE OF PUBLICATION. 

1. FIGHTING THE WHALES; or, Doings and Danger* 

on a Fishing Cruiee. 

2. AWAY IN THE WILDERNESS; or, Life among the 

Red Indians and Fur-Traders of North America^ 

3. FAST IN THE ICE; or, Adventures in the Polar 

Regions. 

4. CHASING THE SUN; or. Rambles in Norway. 

5. UP IN THE CLOUDS; or, Balloon Voyages. 

6. LOST IN THE FOREST; or, Adventures in Brazil. 

7. DOWN IN THE DEEP; or. The Dangers and Won- ' 

ders of Diving. 

8. OUT UPON THE SEA; or, The Fights and Fancies 

of a British Tar. 

9i DOWN IN THE MINES ; or, Leaves from the Journal 
of a Collier. 

10. OVER THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS; or, The Strong- 

hold of the Savage. 

11. UP THE NILE; or. The Land of Egypt 

12. DIGGING FOR GOLD; or. Adventures in California. 

13. THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS; or. Sights and Scenes 

in one of the Dark Places of the Earth. 

14. HUNTING THE LIONS ; or, The Land of the Negro. 
J5. THE SEA-KING; A Norse Tale of the Olden Time. 

XTC. BTC. BTC. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOB 

Chapter I. — OuTWAnD Bound 7 

II. — At Sea — The FinsT Storm ' . . . , 13 

III. — In the Ice — Dangers op Arctic 

Voyaging 21 

IV. — Difficulties, Troubles, and Dangers 34 

V. — A Gale — Narrow Escapes — Signs of 

Winter — Set Fast 48 

VI. — Preparations for Wintering — Rh- 

UAREADLE ADVENTURES WITH A BeAR 61 

VII. — A Great Battle WITH THE Walrus . 75 

VIII. — The Cause op Ice-Bbrgs— Fox-chase 

— A Bear 97 

IX. — A Visit to the Eskimos — Wonderful 

Doings — A Mystery ...... 109 

X. — The Tale of a Kite — A Great Bear- 

fight 121 

XI. — Christmas Time — Death — Returning 
Light and Hope — Disasters and 
final Deliverance 132 

1 * . 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGB 

Fighting A Polar Bear — { FrontifpLte ) 130 

Nipped in the Ice . 47 

The Walrus Hunt 83 

The Eskimo Village 113 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


CHAPTEE I. 

OUTWARD BOUND. 

O NE day, many years ago, a brig cast off 
from her moorings, and sailed from a 
British port for the Polar Seas. That brig 
never came back. 

Many a hearty cheer was given, many a 
kind wish was uttered, many a handkerchief 
was waved, and many a tearful eye gazed 
that day as the vessel left Old England, and 
steered her course into the unknown regions 
of the far north. 

But no cheer ever greeted her return ; no 
bright eyes ever watched her homeward- 
bound sails rising on the far-off horizon. 

Battered by the storms of the Arctic Seas, 
her sails and cordage stiffened by the frosts, 
and her hull rasped and shattered by the ice 
of those regions, she was forced on a shore 
where the green grass has little chance to 
grow, where winter reigns nearly all the 

( 7 ) 


8 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


year round, where man never sends his mer- 
chandise, and never drives his plough. 
There the brig was frozen in ; there, for two 
long years, she lay unable to move, and her 
starving crew forsook her ; there, year after 
year she lay, unknown, unvisited by civil- 
ized man, and unless the wild Eskimos* 
have torn her to pieces, and made spears of 
her timbers, or the ice has swept her out to 
sea and whirled her to destruction, there she 
lies still — hard and fast m the ice. 

The vessel was lost, but ter crew were 
saved, and most of them returned to tell 
their kinsfolk of the- wonders and the . dan- 
gers of the frozen .regions, where God has 
created some of the most- beautiful and some 
of the most -awful, objects that were ever 
looked'On by the eye of man. 

What was told by the fireside, long ago, 
is now recounted in this book. Ji 

Imagine a tall, strong man, of about five- 
and-forty, with short, curly black hair, just 
beginning to turn gray; stern black eyes, 
that look as if they could pierce into your 

* This word is here spelt as pronounced. It is 
usually spelt Esquimaux. 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


9 


secret thoughts ; a firm mouth, with lines of 
good-will and kindness lurking about it ; a 
deeply-browned skin, and a short, thick 
beard and mousta^che. That is a portrait of 
the commander of the brig. His name was 
Harvey. He stood on the deck, close by the 
wheel, looking wistfully over the stern. As 
the vessel bent before the breeze, and cut 
swiftly through the water, a female hand was 
raised among the gazers on the pier, and a 
white scarf waved in the breeze. In the 
fore-front of the throng, and lower down, 
another hand was raised ; it was a little one, 
but very vigorous ; it whirled a cap round a 
small head of curly black hair, and a shrill 
hurrah!” came floating out to sea. 

The captain kissed his hand and waved 
his hat in reply; then, wheeling suddenly 
round, he shouted, in a voice of thunder — 
Mind your helm, there, let her away a 
point. Take a pull on these fore-topsail hal- 
yards ; look alive, lads 1” 

Ay, ay, sir,” replied the men. 

There was no occasion whatever for these 
orders. The captain knew that well enough, 
Jbut he had his own reasons for giving them. 


10 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


The men knew that, too, and they under- 
stood his reasons when they observed the 
increased sternness of his eyes, and the com- 
pression of his lips. i 

Inclination and duty I What wars go on 
in the hearts of men — high and low, rich 
and poor — between these two. What va- 
ried fortune follows man, according as the 
one or the other carries the day. 

Please, sir,” said a gruff, broad-shoul- 
dered, and extremely short man, with little 
or no forehead, a hard, vacant face, and a 
pair of enormous red whiskers — ^‘Please, 
sir, Sam Baker’s took very bad ; I think it 
would be as well if you could give him a 
little physic, sir, a tumbler of Epsom, or 
somethink of that sort.” 

Why, Mr. Dicey, there can’t be anything 
very far wrong with Baker,” said the cap- 
tain, looking down at his second jociate ; he 
seems to me one of the healthiest men in the 
ship. What’s the matter with him ?” 

Well, I can’t say, sir,” replied Mr. Dicey, 
but he looks ’orrible bad, all yellow and 
green about the gills, and fearful red round 
the eyes. But what frightens me most is, 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


11 


that I heard him groanin’ very heavy about 
a quarter of an hour ago, and then I saw him 
suddenly fling himself into his ’ammock and 
begin blubberin’ like a child. Now, sir, I 
say, when a grow’d-up man gives way like 
that, there must be somethink far wrong 
with his inside. And it’s a serious thing, 
sir, to take a sick man on such a voyage as 
this.” 

*^Does he not say what’s wrong with him?” 
asked the captain. 

1^ ** No, sir, he don’t. He says it’s nothin’, 
and he’ll be all right if he’s only let alone. 
I did hear him once or twice muttering 
somethink about his wife and child; you 
know, sir, he’s got a young wife, and she had 
a baby about two months ’fore we came 
away, but I can’t think that’s got much to 
do with it, for Pve got a wife myself, sir, and 
six children, two of ’em bein’ babies, and that 
don’t upset me, and Baker’s a much stronger 
man.” 

You are right, Mr. Dicey, he is a much 
stronger man than you,” replied the captain, 
*'and I doubt not that his strength will 
enable him to get over this without the aid 
of physio.” 


12 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


Yerj well; sir,” said Mr. Dicey. 

The second mate was a man whose coun- 
tenance never showed any signs of emotion, 
no matter what he felt. He seldom laughed, 
or, if he did, his mouth remained almost 
motionless, and the sounds that came out 
were anything but cheerful. He had light 
gray eyes which always wore an expression 
of astonishment; but the expression was 
accidental ; it indicated no feeling. He would 
have said, ‘^Yery well, sir,” if the captain 
had refused to give poor Baker food instead 
of physic. 

And hark’ee, Mr. Dicey,” said the cap- 
tain, don’t let him be disturbed till he feels 
inclined to move.” 

Yery well, sir,” replied the second mate, 
touching his cap as he turned away. 

** So,” murmured the captain as he gazed 
earnestly at the now distant shore, “ I’m not 
the only one who carries a heavy heart to 
sea this day, and leaves sorrowing hearts 
behind him.” 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


13 


CHAPTEK IL 

AT SEA — THE FIEST STORM. 

TT is now hundreds of years since the 
North Polar Eegions began to attract 
general attention. Men have long felt very 
inquisitive about that part of the earth, and 
many good ships, many noble lives have 
been lost in trying to force a passage through 
the ice that encumbers the Arctic seas, sum- 
mer and winter. Britain has^ done more 
than^other nations in the cause of, discovery 
within the Arctic circle. The last and great- 
est of her Arctic heroes perished there — the 
famous-Sir John Franklin. 

W6re I writing a history of those regions, 
I would have much to say of other countries 
as well as of our own. But such is not my 
object in this book. I mean simply to follow 
in the wake of one of Britain’s adventurous 
discoverers, and thus give the reader an idea 
of the fortunes of those gallant men who 
risk life and limb for the sake of obtaining 
knowledge of distant lands. 

There have always been restless spirits in 
2 


14 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


this country. There have ever been men 
who, when boys, were full of mischief, and 
who could “ settle to nothing’’ when they 
grew up. Lucky for us, lucky for the world, 
that such is the case! Many of our ‘'rest- 
less spirits,” as we call them, have turned 
out to be our heroes, our discoverers, our 
greatest men. No doubt many of them have 
become our drones, our sharpers, our black- 
legs. But that is just saying that some men 
are good, while others are bad — no blame is 
due to what is called the restlessness of spirit. 
Our restless men, if good, find rest in action, 
in bold energetic toil ; if bad, they find rest 
alas in untimely graves 1 

Captain Harvey was one of our restless 
spirits. He had a deeply learned friend who 
said to him one day that he felt there 

was a sea of open water round the North Pole 
Hundreds of ships had tried to reach that 
pole without success, because they always 
found a barrier of thick ice raised against 
them. This friend said that if a ship could 
only cut or force its way through the ice to 
a certain latitude north, open water would 
be found. Captain Harvey was much in- 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


15 


terested in this. He could not rest until lie 
had proved it. He had plenty of money, so 
had his friend. They resolved to buy a 
vessel and send it to the seas lying within 
the Arctic circle, Other rich friends helped 
them ; a brig was bought, it was named the 
Hope, and, as we have seen in the last chap- 
ter, it finally set sail under command of 
Captain Harvey. 

Many days and nights passed, and the 
Hope kept her course steadily towards the 
coast of North America. Greenland was 
the first land they hoped to see. Baffin^a 
Bay was the strait through which they 
hoped to reach the open polar sea. 

The Hope left England as a whaler, with 
all the boats, lances, harpoons, lines, and 
other apparatus used in the whale fishery. 
It was intended that she should do a little 
business in that way if Captain Harvey 
thought it advisable, but the discovery of 
new lands and seas was their chief end and 
aim. 

At first the weather was fine, the wind 
fair, and the voyage prosperous. But one 
night there came a deep calm. Not a breath 


16 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


of air moved over the sea, which was as 
clear and polished as a looking-glass. The 
captain walked the deck with the surgeon 
of the ship, a nephew of his own, named 
Gregory. 

Tom Gregory was a youth of about nine- 
teen, who had not passed through the whole 
course of a doctor’s education, but who was 
a clever fellow, and better able to cut and 
carve and physic poor suffering humanity 
than many an older man who wrote M. D. 
after his name. He was a fine, handsome, 
strapping fellow, with a determined manner 
and a kind heart. He was able to pull an 
oar with the best man aboard, and could 
even steer the brig in fine weather, if need 
be. He was hearty and romantic, and a 
great favorite with the men. He, too, was a 
restless spirit. He had grown tired of col- 
lege life, and had made up his mind to take 
a year’s run into the Polar Kegions, by way 
of improving his knowledge of the outland- 
ish” parts of the world. 

I don’t like the look of the sky to-day, 
Tom,” said the captain, glancing at the hori- 
zon, and then at the sails. 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


17 


Indeed I’^ said Tom, in surprise. ^‘It 
seems to me the most beautiful afternoon we 
have had since the voyage began. But I 
suppose you seamen are learned in signs 
which we landsmen do not understand.” 

Perhaps we are,” replied the captain ; 
but it does not require much knowledge of 
the weather to say that such a dead calm as 
this, and such unusual heat, is not likely to 
end in a gentle breeze.” 

You don’t object to a stiff breeze, uncle ?” 
said the youth. 

No, Tom ; but I don’t like a storm, be- 
cause it does us no good, and may do us 
harm.” 

Storms do you no good, uncle!” cried 
Tom ; how can you say so ? Why, what 
is it that makes our sailors such trumps ? 
The British tar would not be able to face 
danger as he does if there were no storms.” 

True, Tom, but the British tar would not 
require to face danger at all if there were no 
storms. What says the barometer, Mr. 
Mansell?” said the captain, looking down 
the skylight into the cabin, where the first 
mate — a middle-sized man, of thirty-five, or 
2 * 


18 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


thereabouts — was seated at the table writing 
up the ship’s log-book. 

''The glass has gone down an inch, sir, 
and is still falling,” answered the mate. 

‘‘ Eeef the topsail, Mr. Dicey,” cried the 
captain, on hearing this. 

Why such haste ?” inquired Gregory. 

** Because such a sudden fall in the baro- 
meter is a sure sign of approaching bad 
weather,” answered the captain. 

The first man on the shrouds, and out 
upon the main-topsail yard, was Sam Baker, 
whose active movements and hearty manner 
showed that he had quite recovered his 
health without the use of physic. He was 
quickly followed by some of his shipmates, 
all of whom were picked men — able in body 
and ready for anything. 

; In a few minutes sail was reduced. Soon 
after that, clouds began to rise on the horizon 
and spread over the sky. Before half an 
hour had passed, the breeze came — came far 
stronger than had been expected — and the 
order to take in sail had to be repeated. 

Baker was first again. He was closely 
followed by Joe Davis and Jim Croft, both 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


19 


of them sturdy fellows-— good specimens of 
the British seaman. Davy Butts, who came 
next, was not so good a specimen. He was 
nearly six feet high, very thin and loosely 
put together, like a piece of bad furniture. 
But his bones were big, and he was stronger 
than he looked. He would not have formed 
one of such a crew had he not been a good 
man. The rest of the crew, of whom there 
were eighteen, not including the ojB&cers, 
were of all shapes, sizes, and complexions. 

The sails had scarcely been taken in when 
the storm burst on the brig in all its fury. 
The waves rose like mountains and followed 
after her, as if they were eager to swallow 
her up. The sky grew dark overhead as the 
night closed in, the wind shrieked through 
the rigging, and the rag of canvas that they 
ventured to hoist seemed about to burst 
away from the yard. It was an awful night. 
Such a night as causes even reckless men to 
feel how helpless they are — how dependent 
bn the arm of God. The gale steadily in- 
creased until near midnight, when it blew a 
perfect-hurricane. 

It’s a dirty night,” observed the captain 


20 


FAST IN 


[B ICE. 


to the second mate, as the latter came on 
deck to relieve the watch. 

It is, sir,” replied Mr. Dicey, as coolly 
as if he were about to sit down to a good 
dinner on shore. Mr. Dicey was a remark- 
ably matter-of-fact man. He looked upon a 
storm as he looked upon a fit of the toothache 
— a thing that had to be endured, and was 
not worth making a fuss about. 

It won’t last long,” said the captain. 

Ho, sir, it won’t,” answered Mr. Dicey. 

As Mr. Dicey did not seem inclined to say 
more, the captain went below, and flung 
himself on a locker, having given orders that 
he should be called if any change for the 
worse took place in the weather. Soon after- 
wards a tremendous sea rose high over the 
stern, and part of it fell on the deck with a 
terrible crash, washing Mr. Dicey into the 
lee-scuppers, and almost sweeping him over- 
board. On regaining his feet, and his posi- 
tion beside the wheel, the second mate shook 
himself, and considered whether he ought to 
call the captain. Having meditated some 
time, he concluded that the weather was no 
worse, although it had treated him very 


PAST IN THE lOE. 


21 


rouglily, so lie did not disturb the captain’s 
repose. 

Thus the storm raged all that night. It 
tossed the Hope about like a cork ; it well- 
nigh blew the sails oiff the masts, and almost 
blew Mr. Dicey’s head off his shoulders ; then 
it stopped as it had begun—suddenly. 


CHAPTER III. 

m THE ICE — DANGERS OP ARCTIC VOYAGING. 

N ext morning the -Hope was "becalmed 
in the midst of a scene more beautiful 
than the tongue or the- pen of man can- de- 
scribe. 

When the sun rose that day, it shone upon 
what appeared to be a field of glass and a 
city of crystal. Every trace of the recent 
storm was gone except a long swell, which 
caused the brig to roll considerably, but 
which did not break the surface of the sea. 

Ice was to be seen all round as far as the 
eye could reach. Ice in every form and size 


22 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


imaginable. And the wonderful thing about 
it was that many of the masses resembled 
the buildings of a city. There were houses, 
and churches, and monuments, and spires, 
and ruins. There were also islands and 
mountains! Some of the pieces were low 
and flat, no bigger than a boat ; others were 
tall, with jagged tops ; some of the fields, as 
they are called, were a mile and more in ex- 
tent, and there were a number of bergs, or 
ice-mountains, higher than the brig’s top- 
masts. These last were almost white, but 
they had, in many places, a greenish-blue 
color that was soft and beautiful. The whole 
scene shone and sparkled so brilliantly in 
the morning sun, that one could almost 
fancy it was one of the regions of fairy- 
land! 

When young Gregory came on the quar- 
ter-deck, no one was there except Jim Croft, 
a short, thick-set man, with the legs of a 
dwarf and the shoulders of a giant. He 
stood at the helm, and although no steering 
was required, as there was no wind, he kept 
his hands on the spokes of the wheel, and 
glanced occasionally at the compass. The 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


23 


first mate, who had the watch on deck, was 
tip at the masthead, observing the state of 
the ice. 

How glorious !” exclaimed the youth, as 
he swept his sparkling eye round the hori- 
zon. Ah I Croft, is not this splendid?” 

*^So it is, sir,” said the seaman, turning 
the large quid of tobacco that bulged out his 
left cheek. It’s very beautiful, no doubt, 
but it’s coinin’ rather thick for my taste.” 

'^How so?” inquired Gregory. “There 
seems to me plenty of open water to enable 
us to steer clear of these masses. Besides, 
as we have no wind, it matters little, I should 
think, whether we have room to sail or not.” 

“You’ve not seed much o^the ice yet, 
that’s plain,” said Croft, “ else you’d know 
that the floes are closin’ round us, an’ we’ll 
soon be fast in the pack, if a breeze don’t 
spring up to help us.” 

As the reader may not, perhaps, under- 
stand the terms used by Arctic voyagers in 
regard to the ice in its various forms, it may 
be as well here to explain the meaning of 
those most commonly used. 

When ice is seen floating in small detach^ 


24 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


pieces and scattered masses, it is called floe” 
ice, and men speak of getting among the 
floes. When these floes close up, so that the 
whole sea seems to be covered with them, 
and little water can be seen, it is called 
'^pack” ice. When the pack is squeezed 
together, so that lumps of it are forced up 
in the form of rugged mounds, these mounds 
are called hummocks.” A large mass of 
flat ice, varying from one mile to many miles 
in extent, is called a field,” and a moxmtain 
of ice is called a ^*berg.” 

All the ice here spoken of, except the berg, 
is sea-ice; formed by the freezing of the ocean 
in winter. The berg is formed in a very dif- 
ferent manner. Of this more shall be said in 
a future chapter. 

Well, my lad,” said Gregory, in reply to 
Jim Croft’s last observation, have not 
seen much of the ice yet, as you truly re- 
mark, so I hope that the wind will not come 
to help us out of it for some time. You 
don’t think it dangerous to get into the pack, 
do you ?” 

^‘Well, not exactly dangerous, sir,” re- 
plied Croft, but I must say that it ain’t safe, 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


25 


’specially wlien there’s a swell on like this. 
But that’ll go down soon. D’ye know what 
a-nip is, Dr. Gregory?” 

“ I think I do ; at least I have read of such 
a thing. But I should be very glad to hear 
what you have to say about it. No doubt 
you have felt one.” 

^'Felt one I” cried Jim, screwing up his 
face, and drawing his limbs together, as if 
he were suffering horrible pain, no, I’ve 
never felt one. The man what /ecfe a. nip 
ain’t likely to live ta tell what his feelin’s 
was, but I’ve ^eed one.” 

You’ve seen one, have you? That must 
have been- interesting. Where was it ?” ? 

Not very far from the Greenland coast,” 
said Croft, giving his quid another turn. 

This was the way of it. You must know 
that there was two ships of us in company 
at the time. Whalers we was. We got into 
the heart of the pack, somehow, and we 
thought we’d never get oiit ijFit again. 
There was nothin’ but ice all round us as far 
as the eye could see. The name of our ship 
was the ^ Nancy.’ Our comrade was the 
* Bullfinch.’ One mornin’ early we heard a 
3 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


loud noise of ice rubbin agin the sides o’ the 
ship, so we all jumped up, an’ on deck as 
fast as we could, for there’s short time given 
to save ourselves in them seas sometimes. 
The whole pack, we found, was in motion, 
and a wide lead of water opened up before 
us, for all the world like a smooth river, or 
canal windin’ through the pack. Into this 
we warped the ship, and hoistin’ sail, steered 
away cheerily. W e passed close to the 
•Bullfinch,’ which was still hard and fast in 
the pack, and we saw that her crew were 
sawin’ and cuttin’ away at the ice, tryin’ to 
get into the lead that we’d got into. So we 
hailed them, and said we would wait for ’em 
outside the pack, if we got through. But 
the words were no sooner spoken, when the 
wind it died away, and we were becalmed 
about half a mile from the * Bullfinch.’ 

You’d better go down to breakfast, 
boys,’ says our captain, says he, • the breeze 
wohH be long o’ cornin’ again.’ 

'' So down the men went, and soon after 
that the steward comes on deck, and, says 
he to the captain, 'breakfast, sir.’ 'Yery 
good,’ says the captain, and down he went 


FAST IN THE ICK. 


27 


too, leavin’ me at the wheel, and the mate in 
charge of the deck. He’d not been gone 
three minutes, when I noticed that the great 
field of ice on our right was closin’ in on the 
field on our left, and the channel we was 
floatin’ in was closin’ up. The mate noticed 
it too, but he wouldn’t call the captain, ’cause 
the ice came so slowly and quietly on that 
for a few minutes we could hardly believe it 
was movin’, and everything around us looked 
so calm and peaceful like that it was diffi- ' 
cult to believe our danger was so great. But 
this was only a momentary feelin’, d’ye see. 
A minute after that the mate he cries down 
to the captain — 

** Hce closin’ up, sir !’ 

" And the captain he runs on deck. By 
this time there was no mistake about it ; the 
ice was close upon us. It was clear that we 
were to have a nip. So the captain roars 
down the hatchway, 'Tumble up there! 
tumble up ! every man alive I for your lives I’ 
And sure enough they did tumble up, as I 
never seed ’em do it before — two or three of 
’em was sick ; they came up with their 
clothes in their hands. The ice was now 


28 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


almost touchin’ our sides, and I tell you, sir, 
1 .never did feel so queerish in all my life 
before as when I looked over the side at the 
edge of that great field of ice which rose 
three foot out o’ the water, and was I sup- 
pose six foot more below the surface. It 
came on so slow that we could hardly see the 
motion. Inch by inch the water narrowed 
between it and our sides. At last it touched 
on the left side, and that shoved us quicker 
on to the field on our right. Every eye was 
fixed on it — every man held his breath. 
You might have heard a pin fall on the 
deck. It touched gently at first, then there 
was a low grindin’ and crunchin’ sound. 
The ship trembled as if it had been a livin’ 
creetur, and the beams began to crack. 
Now, you must know, sir, that when a nip 
o’ this sort takes a ship the ice usually eases 
off, after giving her a good squeeze, or when 
the pressure is too much for her, the ice slips 
Tinder her bottom and lifts her right out o’ 
the water. But our Nancy was what we call 
wall-sided. She was never fit to sail in them 
seas. The consequence was that the- ice 
crushed her-sides in. The moment the cap- 


PAST IN THE lOK. 


29 


tain heard the beams begin to go, he knew 
it was alh up with the ship, so he -roared to 
take to the ice for ourdives I You may be sure 
we took his advice. Over the side we went 
every man Jack of us, and got on the ice. 
We did not take time to save an article be- 
longing to us ; and it was as well we did not, 
for the ice closed up with a crash, and we 
heard the beams and timbers rending like a 
fire of musketry in the hold. Her- bottom 
must have been cut clean away, for she stood 
on the ice just as she had floated on the sea. 
Then the noise stopped, the ice eased off, and 
the shop began to settle. The lead of water 
opened up again; in ten minutes after that 
the ^ Nancy’ went to the bottom and left us 
standin’ there on the ice. 

** It was the mercy of God that let it hap- 
pen so near the * Bullfinch.’ We might have 
been out o’ sight o’ that ship at the time, and 
then every man of us would have bin lost. 
As it was, we had a hard scramble over a 
good deal of loose ice, jumpin’ from lump to 
lump, and some of us failin’ into the water 
several times, before we got aboard. Now 
that was a bad nip, sir^ warn’t it ?” 

3 * 


80 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


It certainly was,” replied Gregory ; and 
although I delight in being amongst the ice, 
I sincerely hope that our tight little brig may 
not be tried in the same way. But she is 
better able to stand it, I should think.” 

** That she is, sir,” replied Croft with much 
confidence. “ I seed her in dock, sir, when 
they was a*puttin’ of extra timbers on the 
bow, and I do believe she would stand twice 
as much bad usage as the ^ Nancy’ got, 
though she is only half the size.” 

Jim Croft’s opinion on this point was well 
founded, for the Hope had indeed been 
strengthened and prepared for her ice battles 
with the greatest care, by men of experience 
and ability. As some readers may be inter- 
ested in this subject, I shall give a brief ac- 
count of the additions that were made to her 
hull. 

The vessel was nearly 200 tons burden. 
She had originally been built very strongly, 
and might even have ventured on a voyage 
to the Polar seas just as she was. But Cap- 
tain Harvey resolved to take every precau- 
tion to insure the success of his voyage, and 
the safety and comfort of his men. He there- 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


81 


fore liad the whole of the ship’s bottom 
sheathed with thick hardwood planking, 
which was carried np above her water-line, 
as high as the ordinary floe-ice would be 
likely to reach. The hull inside was 
strengthened with stout cross-beams, as well 
as with beams running along the length of 
the vessel, and in every part that was likely 
to be subjected to pressure iron stanchions 
were fastened. But the- bow of the vessel 
was the -point where the utmost strength was 
aimed -at. Inside, just behind the cutwater, 
the whole space was so traversed by cross- 
beams of oak that it almost became a solid 
mass, and outside the sharp stem was cased 
in iron so as to resemble a giant’s chisel. 
The false keel was taken oiBF, and the whole 
vessel, in short, was rendered as strong, out- 
side and in, as wood and iron and skill could 
make her. It need scarcely be said that all 
the other arrangements about her were made 
with the greatest care and without regard to 
expense, for although the owners of the brig 
did not wish to waste their money, they set 
too high a value on human life to risk it for 
the sake of saving a few pounds. She was 


32 


FAST IN THE lOB. 


provisioned for a cruise of two years and a 
half. But this was in case of accidents, for 
Captain Harvey did not intend to be absent 
77iuch longer than one year. 

But, to return to our story — 

Jim Croft’s ' fear that they would be set 
fast was jealized sooner than he expected. 
The floes began to close in, from no cause 
that could be seen, for the wind was quite 
still, and in a short time the loose ice pressed 
against the Hope on all sides. It seemed to 
young Gregory as if the story that the sea- 
man had just related was about to be enacted 
over-again ; and, being a stranger to ice, he 
could not help feeling a little- uneasy for 
some time. But there was in reality little 
or no danger, for the pressure was light, and 
the brig had got into a small bay in the 
edge of an ice-field, which lay in the midst 
of the smaller masses. 

Seeing that there was little prospect of the 
pack opening up just then, the captain or- 
dered the ice-anchors to be got out and fixed. 

The appearance of the sea from the brig’s 
deck was now extremely wintry, but very 
bright and cheerful. Not a spot of blue 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


33 


water was to be seen in any direction. The 
wbolo ocean appeared as if it had been frozen 
over. 

It was now past^ noon, and the sun’s rays 
were, warm, although the quantity of ice 
arouud rendered the air cold. As the men 
were returning from fixing the anchors, the 
captain looked over the side and said : — 

*^It’s not- likely that we shall move out of 
this for some hours. What say you, lads, 
to a game at football?” 

The proposal was received with a loud 
cheer. The ball had been prepared by the 
sail-maker, in expectation of some such op- 
portunity as this. It was at once tossed over 
the side ; those men who were not already 
on the field scrambled out of the brig, and 
the entire crew went leaping and yelling 
over the ice with the wild delight of school 
boys let loose for an unexpected holiday. 

They were in the -middle of the -game 
when a loud shout came from the brig, and 
the captain’s -voice was heard singing out — 

^^All hands ahoy I come- aboard. Look 
alive I” 

Instantly the men turned, and there was a 


34 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


general race towards the brig, which lay 
nearly a quarter of a mile distant from them. 

In summer, <}hanges in the motions of the 
ice take place in the most unexpected man- 
ner. Currents in the ocean are. no doubt, 
the chief -cause of these ; the action of winds 
has also something to do with them. One 
of these changes was now taking place. 
Almost before the men got on board, the ice 
had separated, and long canals of water were 
seen opening up here and there. Soon after 
that a light breeze sprang up, the ice-anchors 
were taken aboard, the sails trimmed, and 
soon the Hope was again making her way 
slowly but steadily to the north. 


CHAPTER IV. 

DIFFICULTIES, TROUBLES, AND DANGERS. 

T^OR some hours the brig proceeded on- 
ward with a freshening breeze, wind- 
ing and turning in order to avoid the lumps 
of ice. Many of the smaller pieces were not 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


85 


worth turning out of the way of, the mere 
weight of the YessUl being sufficient to push 
them aside. 

Up to this time they had succeeded in 
steering clear of everything without getting 
a thump ; but they got one at last, which 
astonished those among the crew who had 
not been in the ice before. The captain, 
Gregory, and Dicey were seated in the cabin 
at the time taking tea. Ned Dawkins, the 
Steward, an active little man, was bringing 
in a tea-pot with a second supply of tea. In 
his left hand he carried a tray of biscuit. 
The captain sat at the head of the table. 
Dicey at the foot, and the doctor at the side. 

Suddenly a tremendous shock was felt I 
The captain’s cup of tea leaped away from 
him and flooded the centre of the table. The 
doctor’s cup was empty ; he seized the table 
with both hands and remained steady ; but 
Dicey’s cup happened to be at his lips at the 
moment, and was quite full. The eflect on 
him was unfortunate. He was thrown vio- 
lently on his back, and the tea poured over 
his face and drenched his hair as he lay 
sprawling on the floor. The steward saved 


86 


PAST IN THE lOB. 


himself by . dropping the , bread-tray and 
grasping the handle of the cabin door. So 
violent was the shock that the ship’s bell was 
set a-ringing. 

Beg- pardon, gentlemen,” cried the first 
mate looking down the sky -light. I forgot 
to - warn you. The ice is getting rather 
thick round us, and I had to ^charge a lump 
of it.” 

It’s all very well to beg .pardon,” said 
the captain, but that won’t mend my crock- 
ery I” 

Or dry my head,” growled Mr. Dicey ; 

it’s as bad as if I’d been dipped overboard, it 
is.” 

Before Mr. Dicey’s grumbling remarks 
were finished all three of them had reached 
the deck. The wind had freshened consider- 
ably, and the brig was rushing in a some- 
what alarming manner among the fioes. It 
required the most careful attention to. prevent 
her striking heavily. 

“ If it goes on like this, we shall have to 
reduce sail,” observed the captain. '^See, 
there is a neck of ice ahead that will stop us.” 

This seemed to be probable, for the lane 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


37 


of water along which they were steering was, 
jnst ahead of them, stopped by a neck of ice 
that connected two floe-pieces. Thc'vater 
beyond was pretty free from ice, but this neck 
or mass seemed so thick that it beiame a 
question, whether they should venture to 
charge it or shorten sail. 

Stand by tne iore ana main-iopsail 
braces I” shouted the captain. 

*^Ay, ay, sir.” 

‘^Now, Mr. Mansell,” said he with a smile, 
** we have come to our first real difficu}^^. 
What do you advise ; shall we back the top- 
sails, or try what our little ^ Hope’ is made 
of, and charge the enemy V 

** Charge I” answered the irjitu 
Just ^o,” said tke captain, hastening to 
the bow to direct the steersman. *‘Port 
vour helm."' 

Steady.*' 

The brig was now about fifty yards from 
the neck of ice, tearing through the- ’water" 
like a race-horse. In another moment she 
was up to it and struck it fair in the middle. 
The stout little vessel quivered to her keel 
under the shock, but she did not recoil. She 
4 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


S8 

split the mass into fragments, and, hearing 
down all before her, sailed like a conqueror 
into the clear water beyond. 

** Well done the ^Hope !’ ” said the^aptain, 
as he walked aft, while a cheer burst from 
the men. 

** I think she ought to be called the ^ Good 
Hope’ ever after this,” said Tom Gregory. 

If she cuts her way through everything as 
easily as she has cut through that neck of 
ice, we shall reach the North Pole itself be- 
fore winter.” 

If we reach the North Pole at all," ob- 
served Mr. Dicey, f* I’ll tjlimb up to the top 
of it, and stand on my bead, I will !” 

The second mate evidently had no ex- 
pectation of reaching that mysterious pole, 
which men have so long and so often tried 
to find, in vain. 

'' Heavy ice ahead, sir,” shouted Mr. Man- 
sell, who was at the mast-head with a tele- 
scope. 

Where away ?” 

On the weather bow, sir, the pack seems 
open enough to push through, but the large 
bergs are numerous.” 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


39 


Tlie Hope was now indeed getting into tlie 
heart of those icy regions where ships are in 
constant danger from the floating masses 
that come down with the ocean-cnrrents from 
the far north. In sailing along she was often 
obliged to run with great violence against 
lumps so large that they caused her whole 
frame to tremble, stout though it was. 

Shall we smash the lump, or will it stave 
in our bows ?” was a question that frequently 
ran in the captain’s mind. Sometimes ice 
closed round her and squeezed her sides so 
that her beams cracked. At other times, when 
a large field was holding her fast, the smaller 
pieces would grind and rasp against her as 
they went past, until the crew fancied the 
whole of the outer sheathing of planks had 
been scraped off. Often she had to press 
close to ice-bergs of great size, and more 
than once a lump as large as a good-sized 
house fell off the ice-cliffs and plunged into 
the sea close to her side, causing her to rock 
violently on the waves that were raised 
by it. 

Indeed the bergs are dangerous neighbors, 
not only from this cause, but also on account 


40 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


of their J;urning upside down at times, and 
even falling to pieces, so that Captain Har- 
vey always kept well out of their way when 
he could ; but this was not always possible. 
The little brig had a narrow escape one day 
from the falling of a berg. 

It was a short time after that day on which 
they had the game at football. They passed 
in safety through the floes and bergs that had 
been seen that evening, and got into open 
water beyond, where they made good pro- 
gress before again falling in with ice ; but at 
last they came to a part of Baffin’s Bay where 
a great deal of ice is always found. Here 
the pack surrounded them, and compelled 
them to pass close to a berg which was the 
largest they had fallen in with up to that 
time. It was jagged in form, and high 
rather than broad. Great peaks rose up 
from it like the mountain tops of some wild 
highland region. It was several hundred 
yards off the weather-beam when the brig 
passed, but it towered so high over the masts 
that it seemed to be much nearer than it 
was. There was no apparent motion in this 
berg, and the waves beat and rolled upon its 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


41 


base just as they do on tbe shore of an island. 
In fact it was as-like an island as possible, 
or, rather, like a -mountain planted in the 
sea, only it was - white instead of green. 
There were cracks and rents and caverns in 
it, just as there are on a rugged mountain 
side, all of which were of a beautiful blue 
color. There were also slopes and crags and 
precipices, down which the water of the 
melted ice constantly flowed in wild torrents. 
Many of these were equal to small rivulets, 
and some of the waterfalls were beautiful. 
Thed)erg could not have -measured less than 
a. mile round the base, and it was probably 
two hundred feet 'high. It is well known 
that floating ice sinks deep, and that there is 
about eight or ten times as much of it below 
as there is above water. The reader may 
therefore form some idea of what an enor- 
mous mass of ice this berg was. 

The crew of the Hope observed, in passing, 
that lumps were continually falling from the 
cliflfe into the sea. The berg was evidently in 
a very rotten and dangerous state, and the 
captain ran the brig as close to the pack on 
the other side as possible, in order to keep 
4 * 


42 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


out of its way. Just as this was done, some 
great rents occurred, and suddenly a mass 
of ice larger than the brig fell from the top 
of a-^liff into the sea. No danger flowed 
from this, but the mass thus thrown off was 
so large as to destroy the balance of the 
berg, and, to the horror of the sailors, the 
huge- mountain began to roll over. Fortu- 
nately it fell in a direction away from the 
brig. Had it rolled towards her, no human 
poweAjcould have saved our- voyagers. The 
miglj'^y mass, went over with a wild hollow 
roar, and new peaks and cliffs rose out of 
the -sea, as the old ones disappeared, with 
great cataracts of uplifted brine pouring 
furiously down their sides. 

Apart from its-danger, this was an awful 
sight; Those who witnessed it could only 
gaze in solemn, silence. Even the most care- 
less among them must have been forced to 
recognise the might and majesty of God in 
the event, as well as His mercy in having 
led them to the right side of the berg at such 
a dangerous moment. 

But the scene had not yet closed. For 
some time the ice mountain rocked grandly 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


43 


to and fro, raising a considerable^ swell on 
tbe sea, wbicb, all round, was covered with 
the foam caused by this tremendous commo- 
tion. In a few minutes several rents took 
place, sounding like the reports of great 
guns. Eotten as it was, the berg could not 
stand the shock of its change of position, for 
it had turned fairly upside down. Crack 
after crack took place, with deafening re- 
ports. Lumps of all sizes fell from its sides. 
Then there was a. roar, long continued like 
thunder; a moment after, the whole berg 
sank down in ruins, and, with a mighty 
crash, fell flat upon the sea ! 

The Hope was beyond the reach of danger, 
but she rose and sank on the swell, caused 
by the ruin of this berg, for some time after. 

It was on the afternoon of the same day 
that the brig received her first really severe 
nip” from the ice. 

She had got deep into the pack, and was 
surrounded on all sides by large bergs, some 
of these being high, like the one that has 
just been described, others low and flat but 
of great extent. One, not far ofi*, was two 
miles long, and its glittering walls rose 


44 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


about ^fifteen feet above the sea. The sky 
was brighter than usual at the time. This 
was owing to one of those strange appear- 
ances which one sees more of in the Arctic 
regions than in any other part of the world. 
The sun shone with unclouded splendor, and 
around it there were three mock suns almost 
as bright as the sun itself, one on each side 
and one directly above it. Learned men 
call these bright spots J9ar^eZ^a. Sailors call 
them-, sun-dogs. They were connected to- 
gether with a ring of light which entirely 
encircled the sun, but the lower edge of it 
was partly lost on the horizon. 

Although this was the first time that these 
mock suns had been seen by Gregory and 
some others of the crew of the Hope, little 
attention was paid to them at the time, be- 
cause of the dangerous position into which 
the brig had been forced. The pack had 
again closed all round her, obliging her to 
take shelter in the lee of a small berg, which, 
from its shape, did not seem likely to be a 
dangerous protector. 

There was a small bay in the berg. Into 
this the brig was warped, and for some time 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


45 


she lay safely here. It was j ust large enough 
to hold her, and a long tongue of ice, pro- 
jecting from the foot of it, kept off the pres- 
sure of the sea-ice. Nevertheless a, look of 
anxiety rested on the captain’s face after the 
ice-anchors had been made fast. 

You don’t seem to like our position, cap- 
tain,” said young Gregory, who had been 
watching the doings of the men, and now and 
then lent them a hand. 

“ I don’t, Tom. The pack is closing tight 
up, and this - berg may prove an enemy in- 
stead of a- friend, if it forces into our harbor 
here. Let us hear what our mate thinks of 
it. What say you, Mr. Mansell, shall we 
hold on here, or warp out, and take our 
chance in the pack?” 

Better hold on, sir,” answered the mate, 
gravely. The pack is beginning to grind ; 
we should get a tight embrace, I fear, if we 
went out. Here we may do well enough; 
but everything depends on that tongue.” 

He looked as he spoke towards the point 
of ice which extended in front of the brig’s 
stern, and guarded the harbor from the 
outer ice in that direction. The tongue was 


46 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


not a large one, and it was doubtful whether 
it could stand the pressure that was increas- 
ing every minute. 

The pack was indeed beginning to grind,” 
as the mate had said, for, while they were 
looking at it, the edges of two floes came to- 
gether with a crash about fifty yards from 
the berg. They ground together for a mo- 
ment with a harsh growling sound, and then 
the two edges were suddenly forced up to a 
height of about fifteen or twenty feet. Next 
moment they fell on the closed-up iae, and 
lay there in a mound, or hummocky ofT)roken 
masses. 

That’s how 2f^ummock is formed. Doctor 
Gregory,” said Mr. Dicey, looking uncom- 
monly wise. '^You’ll see more things here 
in five minutes, by means of your own eyes, 
than ye could learn from books in a year. 
There’s nothin’ like seein’. Seein’ is be- 
lievin’, you know. I wouldn’t give an ounce 
of experience for a ton of hearsay.” 

Come, Mr. Dicey, don’t run down book- 
learning,” said Gregory. ^^If a man only 
knew about things that he had seen, he 
would know very little.” 



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PAST IN THE ICE. 


47 


Before the second mate could reply the 
captain shouted to the men to ‘^Bear a hand 
with the ice-poles,” The whole crew an- 
swered to the call; and each man, seizing a 
long pole, stood ready for action. 

The tongue to which I have referred more 
than once had broken off, and the ice was 
rushing in. The bay was full in a minute, 
and although the men used their ice-poles 
actively, and worked with a will, they could 
not shove the pieces past them. C The -Hope 
was driven bow on to the- berg. Then there 
was a strain, a terrible creaking and groan- 
ing of the timbers, as if the good little ves- 
sel were complaining of the pressure. All at 
once there was a loud -crack, the- bow of the 
brig lifted a little, and she was forced vio- 
lently up the sloping-side of the berg. Twice 
this happened, and then she remained sta- 
tionary-^high and dry out of the -water I 


48 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


CHAPTER V. 

A GALE — NARROW ESCAPES — SIGNS OP 
WINTER — SET FAST. 

D uring the rest of that day and the 
whole of that night did the brig re- 
main^fixed on the berg. Early next morning 
the ice began to move. It eased off) and the 
vessel slid gently down the slope on which 
she had been forced, and was re-lannched 
safely into the water. 

The satisfaction of the crew, on being 
thus delivered from a position of much dan- 
ger, was very great ; but they had no sooner 
escaped from one peril than they were over- 
taken by another. A sharp breeze sprang 
up from the eastward, and drove them out 
into the pack, which began to heave about 
in a terrible manner under the influence of 
the wind. Soon this increased to a gale, and 
the ice was driven along at great speed by a 
strong northerly current. 

While this was going on, land wa& disco- 
vered bearing to the north-east. Here was 
new danger, for although it was not a lee- 
shore, still there was some risk of the vessel 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


49 


being caught among grounded icebergs — of 
which a few were seen. 

The gale increased to such a degree before 
night that Captain Harvey began to think of 
taking shelter under the lee of one of these 
bergs. He therefore stood towards one, but 
before reaching it the vessel received one or 
two severe shocks from the passing floes. A 
large berg lay within half a mile of them. 
They reached it in safety, and getting under 
its lee, lowered a boat and fixed their ice- 
anchors. Just after they were fixed, a mass 
of ice, the size of a ship’s long-boat, and 
many tons in weight, came suddenly up out 
of the sea with great violence, the top of it 
rising above the bulwarks. One corner of 
it struck the hull just behind the mainmast, 
and nearly stove in the bottom of the brig. 

This lump was what Arctic voyagers term 
a calf.” When masses of ice break off from 
the bergs far below the surface of the water, 
they rise with extreme violence, and ships 
run great risk of being destroyed by these 
calves when they anchor too near to the bergs. 
Had this calf struck the Hope a fair blow 
she must certainly have gone down with all 
on board. 


60 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


They were not yet-freed from their troubles, 
however. In half an hour the wind shifted 
a few points, but the stream of the loose ice 
did not change. The brig was therefore 
blown right in amongst the rushing masses. 
The three cables that held her were snapped 
as if they had been pieces of pack-thread, 
and she was whirled out into the pack, where 
she drove helplessly, exposed to the fury of 
the howling storm and the dangers of the 
grinding ice. Captain Harvey now felt that 
he could do nothing to save his vessel. He 
believed that if God did not mercifully put 
forth His hand to deliver them by a miracle, 
he and his companions would certainly perish. 
In this the captain was wrong. Nothing is 
impossible to the Almighty. He can always 
accomplish His purposes without the aid of 
a miracle. 

There did, indeed, seem no way of escape ; 
for the driving masses of ice were grinding 
each other to powder in nearly every direc- 
tion, and the brig only escaped instant de- 
struction by being wedged between two pieces 
that held together from some unknown cause. 
Presently they were carried down towards a 
large berg that seemed to be aground, for 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


51 


tlie loose ice was passing it swiftly. This 
was not the case, however. An under- 
current, far down in the depths of the sea, 
was -acting on this berg, and preventing 
it from travelling with the ice that floated 
with the stream at the surface. In its- pass- 
ing, the mass of ice that held them struck 
one of the projecting tongues ♦beneath the 
surface, and was split in two. The brig was 
at once set- free. As they passed they might 
almost have leaped upon the berg. Captain 
Harvey saw and seized his opportunity. 
^'Stand by to heave an anchor,” he shouted. 
Sam Baker, being the strongest man in the 
ship, sprang to one of the small ice-anchors 
that lay on the deck with a line attached to 
it, and, lifting it with both hands, stood ready. 
The brig passed close to the end of the 
berg, where the lee-side formed a long tail 
of sheltered water. She was almost thrust 
into this by the piece of -ice from which she 
had just escaped. She grazed the edge of 
the berg as she drove past. 

Heave I” shouted the captain. 

Sam Baker swung the anchor round his 
head as if it had been a feather, and hurled 
it far upon the ice. For a few yards it rattled 


62 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


over the slippery surface ; then it caught a 
lump, but the first strain broke it off. Just 
after that it fell into a crack, and h^d on. 
The brig was checked, and swung round into 
the smooth water ; but they had to ease off 
the line lest it should snap. At last she was 
brought up, and lay safely under the shelter 
of that berg until the storm was over. 

Some weeks flew by after this without 
anything occurring, worthy of particular no- 
tice. During this time the Dope made good 
progress into the Polar regions, without 
again suffering severely either from ice or 
storm, although much retarded by the thick 
fogs that prevail in the Arctic regions. She 
was indeed almost > always surrounded by 
ice, but it was sufficiently open to allow of 
a free passage through it. Many, whales and 
seals had been seen, also one or two bears, but 
not in circumstances in which they could be 
attacked without occasioning much delay. 

The -brief summer had now passed away, 
and the days began to shorten as winter ap- 
proached. Still Captain Harvey hoped to 
get farther north before being obliged to 
search for winter quarters. One morning 
early in September, however, he found to 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


63 


his sorrow that .pancake-ice was forming on 
the .sea. When the sea begins to freeze, it 
does so in small needle-like spikes, which 
cross and re-cross each other until they form 
thin ice, which the motion of the waves 
breaks up into flat cakes about a foot or so 
across. These, by constantly rubbing against 
each other, get worn into a rounded shape. 
Sailors call this “pancake-ice.” Tt is the 
first sign of coming winter. The cakes soon 
become joined together as the frost increases. 

The place where this occurred was near to 
those wild cliffs that rise out of the sea in 
the channels or straits that lie at the head of 
Baffin’s Bay. The vessel was now beyond 
the farthest point of land that had been dis- 
covered at the time of which I am writing, 
and already one or two of the headlands had 
been named by Captain Harvey, and marked 
on his chart. 

“ I don’t like to see pancake-ice so- early 
in the season,” remarked the captain to Mr. 
Mansell. 

“ ISTo more do I, sir,” answered the mate. 
“This would be a bad place to winter in, I 
fear.” 


5 * 


64 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


** Land ahead I” was shouted at that mo- 
ment by the look-out at the mast-head. 

Keep her away two points/’ said the cap- 
tain to the man at the helm. How does it 
lie?” 

Eight ahead, sir.” 

‘‘ Any ice near it ?” 

No, all clear.” 

The brig was kept a little more out to sea. 
Soon she came to more open water, and in 
the course of four hours was close to the 
land, which proved to be a low, barren island, 
not more than a mile across. 

Here the wind died away altogether, and 
a sharp frost set in. The pancakes became 
joined together, and on the following mom- 
ing, when our friend Gregory came on deck, 
he found that the whole ocean was covered 
with ice I It did not, indeed, look very like 
ice, because, being so thin, it did not prevent 
the usual swell from rolling over the sea. A 
light breeze was blowing, and the brig cut 
her way through it for some time ; but the 
breeze soon died away, leaving her becalmed 
within a quarter of a mile of the island. 

For some time the voyagers hoped that a 
thaw would take place, or that wind would 


V 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


65 


break up theice. But they were disappointed. 
This was tbe^first touch of the cold hand of 
winter, and the last day of the Hope^s ad- 
vance northward. 

Seeing this, Captain Harvey set energeti- 
cally to work to cut his way into winter 
quarters, for it would not do to remain all 
winter in the exposed position in which his 
vessel then lay. On his right was theosland, 
already referred to, about a quarter of a mile 
off. Beyond this, about' five miles distant, 
were the high steep cliffe of the western 
coast ofi Greenland. Everywhere else lay 
the open sea, covered here and there with 
floes and bergs, and coated with new ice. 

This ice became so. thick in the course of 
another night that the men could walk on it 
without danger. By means of -saws and 
chisels made for the purpose they cut a pas- 
sage towards the^ island, and finally moored 
the brig in a small bay which was sheltered 
on all sides except the east. This, being the 
land side, required no protection. They 
named the place Eefuge Harbor.” 

Every one was now full of- activity. The 
voyagers had reached the spot* where they 
knew they were destined to spend the winter. 


66 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


and much had to be done before they could 
consider themselves in a fit state to face that 
terrible season. 

iWinter in the Polar regions extends over 
eight-months of the year— from September 
to May. But so much of ice and snow re- 
mains there all the summer, that, winter can 
scarcely be said to quit those regions at all. 

It is difficult to imagine what the Arctic 
winter is. We cannot properly understand 
the tremendous difficulties and sufferings that 
men who go to the Polar seas have to fight 
against. Let the reader think of the follow- 
ing facts, and see if he does not draw his 
chair closer to the fire and feel thankful that 
he has not been born an Eskimo, and is not 
an Arctic seaman I 

Winter within the Arctic circle, as I have 
said, is fully eight months long. During that 
time the land is covered with snow many 
feet deep, and the sea with ice of all degrees 
of thickness — from vast fields of ten or fifteen 
feet thick to bergs the size of islands and 
mountains, — all frozen into one solid mass. 

There is no sunlight there, night or day, for 
three out of these eight winter months, and 
there is not much during the remaining five. 


V 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


57 


In summer there is perpetual sunlight, all 
night as well as all day, for about two months, 
— for many weeks the sun never descends 
below the horizon. ( It is seen every day and 
every night sweeping a complete circle in 
the bright blue sky. Having been so free 
of his light in summer, the sun seems to 
think he has a right to -absent himself in 
winter, for the three months of darkness that 
I have spoken of are not months of partial 
but of darkness — as far at least as the 

sun ia concerned. The moon and stars and 
the Northern Lights” do indeed give their 
light when the fogs and clouds will allow 
them; but no one will say that these make 
up for the, absence of the sun. 

Then the frost is so intense that everything 
freezes _solid except pure spirits of- wine. 
Unless you have studied the thermometer 
you cannot understand the intensity of this 
frost ; but for the sake of those who do know 
something about extreme cold, I give here a 
few facts that were noted down during the 
winter that my story tells of. 

On the 10th of September these ice-bound 
voyagers had eighteen degrees of frost, and 
the darkness had advanced on them so 


58 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


rapidly that it was dark about ten at night 
By the 1st of October the ice round the brig 
was a foot and a half thick. Up to this time 
they had shot white hares on the island^ and 
the hunting parties that crossed the ice to 
the mainland, shot deer and musk oxen, and 
caught white foxes in traps. Gulls and other 
birds, too, had continued to fly round them ; 
but most of these went away to seek warmer 
regions farther south. Walrus and seals did 
not leave so soon. They remained as long 
as there was any open water out at sea. The 
last birds that left them (and the first that 
returned in spring) were the snow-birds” — 
little creatures about the size of a -sparrow, 
almost white, with a few brown feathers here 
and there. The last of these - fled from the 
darkening winter on the 7th November, and 
did not return until the 1st of the following 
May. When they left it was dark almost 
all day. The thermometer could scarcely be 
read at noon, and the stars were visible dur* 
ing the day. From this time forward, thick 
darkness set in, and the cold became intense. 
The thermometer fell below zero, and after 
that they never saw it above that point for 
months together; 20, 30, and 40 degrees 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


59 


below, were commoD'^emperatures The ice 
around them was ten feet thick. On the 1st 
of December noon was so dark that they 
could not see fifty yards ahead, and on the 
15th the fingers could not be counted a foot 
from the eyes. The thermometer stood at 
40° below zero. 

The darkness could not now become 
greater, but the cold still continued to grow 
moredntense. It almost doubled in severity. 
In (January it fell to 67° below zero Ij) So 
great was this cold that the men felt impelled 
to breathe- guardedly. The breath issued 
from their mouths in white clouds of steam 
and instantly settled on their beards and 
whiskers in^hoar-frost. In the cabin of the 
Hope they had the utmost difficulty in keep- 
ing themselves moderately warm at this time. 

Things had now reached their worst, and 
by slow degrees matters began to mend. On 
the 22d of January the first faint sign of re- 
turning day appeared — just a blue glimmer 
on the horizon. By the middle of February 
the light tipped the tops of the mountains on 
shore, and the highest peaks of the ice-bergs 
on the sea, and on the 1st of March it bathed 
the deck of the Hope. Then the long-im- 


60 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


prisoned crew began to feel that spring was 
really -coming. But there was little heat in 
the sun’s rays at first, and it was not ^iH the 
month of May that the ice out at sea broke 
up and summer could be said to have begun. 

During all this long winter — during all 
these wonderful changes, our Arctic voyagers 
had a hard fight in order to keep themselves 
alive. Their life was a constant struggle. 
They had to fight the bears and the walrus ; 
to resist the cold and the darkness ; to guard 
against treachery from the -natives ; and to 
suffer pains, sickness, and trials, such as sel- 
dom fall to the lot of men in ordinary cli- 
mates. 

How they did and suffered all this, I shall 
try to show in the following pages. In at- 
tempting this I shall make occasional extracts 
from the journal of our friend Tom Gregory, 
for Tom kept his journal regularly^ and was 
careful to note down only what he heard and 
saw. 


V 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


61 


CHAPTER YI. - 

PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING — REMARKA- 
BLE ADVENTURES WITH A BEAR. 

rilHE first care of -Captain Harvej; after 
getting his brig securely laid up in her 
icy cradle for the winter, was to remove 
some of the stores to the island, where ^ he 
had them carefully secured in a little hut 
which the crew-built of loose stones. This 
relieved the -strain on the vessel, and per- 
mitted the free circulation of air. The fitting 
up of the interior of the brig was then begun. 

The wooden partition between the cabin 
and the hold was taken down, and the whole 
space thrown into one apartment. The stove 
was put up in the centre of it, and moss was 
piled round the walls inside about a foot 
thick. Moss was also spread on the deck, 
and above it the snow was allowed to gather, 
for snow, although so cold itself, keeps things 
that it covers warm, by not permitting the 
heat to escape. The brig was banked up all 
round with- snow, and a regular snowy stair- 
case was built from the ice to her bulwarkS|, 
6 


FAST IN THE ICE, 


They changed their time, now, from what 
is called sea-time to that which we follow on 
land. That is to say, they reckoned the day 
to commence just after twelve, midnight, 
instead of dividing it into watches, as they 
were wont to do at sea. Journals were be- 
gun, and careful notes made of everything 
that -occurred, or that might in any way fur- 
ther the object for which they had gone there. 
Every man in the ship had his appointed 
duty and his post. If the native Eskimos 
should arrive in a warlike temper, each man 
had his cutlas land pistols in readiness. If a 
bear should pay them a visit, each could lay 
hands on his musket in an instant ; and if a 
fire should break out on board, every man 
had his bucket ready and his particular post 
fixed. Some were to run to the water-hole, 
which it was the duty of one man to keep 
open. Others were to station themselves 
from the hole to the ship to pass the buckets, 
while the rest were to remain on board to 
convey them to the point of danger. Captain 
Harvey fixed all the arrangements, and su- 
perintended the carrying out of his orders 
in a general way, making his two officers 
and the young doctor responsible for the 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


63 


overseeing of details. Each of these fore- 
men furnished him with a report every night 
of what had been done during the day, and 
the result was noted down by himself in a 
journal. Thus everything went smoothly 
and pleasantly along during the first weeks 
of their sojourn in their frozen home. 

In regard to fresh provisions they were 
fortunate at first, for they obtained sufficient 
supplies of deer and other game. This was 
in the early part of winter, while there was 
still plenty of daylight. In Tom Gregory’s 
journal I find it thus written : — 

September lOih . — The days are beginning 
to shorten, now, and we are all busily occu- 
pied in preparing for the long, dark winter 
that is before us. Sam Baker, who is the 
best shot among us, brought in a deer to-day. 
This is fortunate, for we stand in need of 
fresh meat. Our greatest enemy this winter, 
I fear, will be scurvy. Unless we obtain a 
large supply of fresh provisions we cannot 
hope to escape it. Crofts brought in two 
Arctic hares. They are beautiful creatures 
— pure white — and each weighs about seven 
pounds. These, with the four deer shot by 


64 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


myself last week, and the ten hares got by 
Baker, will keep ns going for some time. 

^'Septemher 12th , — I had an-ad venture with 
a polar bear last night, which has amused the 
men very much, and given them food for 
jocularity for a few days. Some days back 
Davy Butts set a trap on the island, in which 
he has caught a few foxes. Last night his 
long legs were so tired that he did not care 
to visit his trap, so I offered to go instead of 
him. It was while I was out on this errand 
that I happened to meet with bruin. Our 
meeting was sudden and unexpected on both 
sides, I believe. It was midnight when I 
set off to the trap, which was not more than 
half a mile from the ship, and it was quite 
dark when I reached it. 

Davy is an ingenious fellow. His trap 
is made of four blocks of hard snow, with 
a sort of wooden trigger that goes off the 
moment the bait is touched, and allows a 
heavy log to fall down on the poor fox’s 
back. There was no fox there, however, 
when I reached it. I went down on my 
knees, and was examining the bait, when I 
heard a low growl. I leaped up, and felt 
for the knife which I usually carried in my 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


65 


belt. It was not there I In the haste of my 
departure from the ship I had forgotten to 
buckle it on. I had no gUB^f course. It 
was too dark to shoot, and I had not counted 
on meeting with any dangerous enemy. I 
could only crouch down behind a lump of 
ice, and hope that the bear would go away, 
but another growl, much louder than the 
first, and close at hand, showed that I had 
been seen. It was so dark that I could 
hardly see fifty yards ahead. There was a 
great chasm or hole just in front of me. 
This was the- place where the main body of 
the sea-ice had been separated from the 
shore-ice that was aground. Here every 
rise and fall of the tide had broken it afresh, 
so that the rent was twenty yards wide, and 
full of large blocks that had been tossed 
about in confusion. Across this I gazed into 
the gloom, and thought I saw an object that 
looked like a large block of rounded ice. 
Before I could make up my mind how to 
act, the block of ice rose up with a furious 
roar and ..charged me. The chasm checked 
him for a moment. But for this I should 
have been caught immediately. While he 
6 * 


66 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


was scrambling over it I took to iny heels, 
and ran along the edge of the ice at the top 
of my speed. 

There was a narrow part of the chasm 
which I had looked at in daylight, and won- 
dered whether I might venture to leap across 
it. I had made up my mind that it was too 
wide and dangerous to be attempted. : But 
it is wonderful how quickly a man changes 
his mind on such a point when a polar bear 
is. roaring at his heels. I came to tho gap 
in the ice. It was ten feet deep and thirteen 
or fourteen feet across. The jagged lumps 
of ice at the bottom lay there in horrible 
confusion. There was barely light enough 
to see where the hole was when I came with- 
in ten yards of it, but I did not hesitate. A 
rush I a bound I and I went over like a cat. 
ISTot so the bear. He had not measured the 
place with his eye in daylight, as I had done. 
He made a gallant leap, it is true, but fell 
short, as I knew, from the bursting sound 
and the growl of rage with which he came 
against the edge of the ice, and fell, back 
among the broken blocks. I did not wait to 
see how he got out, you may be sure, but 
ran as I never ran before in all my life ! I 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


67 


reached the hrig quite out of breath. The 
bear had not followed me up, for I did not 
see him that night again. Long Davy laughed 
at me a good deal, and said he was sure I 
had been frightened at a shadow. It gave a 
wonderfully loud roar for a shadow I I hope 
that Davy himself may get a chase before 
the winter is over, just to convince him of 
his error in not believing me I” 

The kind wish thus .expressed in the 
young doctor’s journal was gratified sooner 
than might have been expected. 

Onl}’’ two days after the. incident above 
described, poor Davy Butts met with the 
same bear, face to face, and had a run for his 
life, that turned the laugh from Tom Gregory 
to himself. 

It was on the -afternoon of a clear, cold 
day, just about sunset. The men had fin- 
ished dinner, and were smoking their pipes 
on deck, stamping their feet and slapping 
their hands and arms, to keep them warm. 

* ’ Hallo, Davy ! where are you bound for ?” 
inquired the captain, on observing that Butts 
was wrapping himself carefully in his fur 
coat, tightening his belt, and putting on his 
mittens, as if bent on a long journey. 


68 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


I’m only ^oin’ to take a look at my fox- 
trap, sir, if you’ll allow me.” 

Certainly, my lad. If you get a fox it’s 
well worth the trouble. And hark’ee, Davy, 
take your axe, and make one . or two more 
of these snow-traps of yours. It will be a 
well -spent, hour.” 

Why,-Butts,” exclaimed Gregory, what 
do you mean to do with that big horse-pistol? 
Surely you are not afraid of bears after 
laughing so much at the one that chased me ?” 

Oh, no, not afraid, you know,” replied 
Davy. ^‘But there’s no harm in being 
armed.” 

“ Mind you shoot him straight in the eye, 
or send a bullet up his nose. Them’s the 
Vulnerable- parts of him,” cried Joe Davis, 
with a laugh, as Butts went down the snow- 
steps and got upon the ice. 

I say,” cried Pepper, as he was moving 
away. 

“Well?” 

“Bring his tongue aboard with you, and 
I’ll cook it for supper.” 

“ Ah, and a bit of fat to fry it in,” added 
the steward. “ There’s nothin’ like tongue 
fried in bears’ grease.” 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


69 


No, no, Dawkins,” said Mr. Dicey. 

Hallo ! Davy, bring tb^ams. Bears’ ’ams 
are considered fustrate heatin’.” 

“No, donH hxmg the hams,” shouted Jim 
Croft, “ fetch the tongue, that’s the thing for 
supper of a cold night — ^fetch the tongue, 
lad.” 

“ Hold your own tongue,” shouted Davy, 
in reply, as he went off amid the laughter 
of his comrades. 

The sun. sank soon after, and. before the 
ingenious seaman had finished two new traps 
the short twilight had gradually deepened 
into night. Still there was plenty of light, 
for the sky was clear, and studded with a 
host of stars. In-addition to this the Aurora 
Borealis was sending its beautiful flashes of 
pale-green light all across the western sky. 

The Aurora — which - also goes by the 
names of “ Northern Lights,” and Stream- 
ers,” and “Merry -dancers,” is seen in great 
splendor in these northern skies. When the 
seaman had finished his traps, and looked up 
for a minute or two at the sky, before start- 
ing on his return to the ship, he beheld the 
Aurora extending over the heavens in the 
form of an irregular arch. It was extremely 


70 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


bright, but the brightness was not the same 
in all parts. It moved and waved gently 
about like a band of thin green fire. Every 
now and then long tongues or streamers 
darted up from it, and these were brighter 
than the rest. They were yellowish white, 
and sometimes became pale pink in color. 
The -light from this beautiful object was 
equal to that of the moon in her quarter, 
and the stars that were behind it shone dimly 
through, as if they were covered with a thin 
gauze veil. 

While Davy was gazing in wonder at the 
splendid lights above him, a deep growl fell 
upon his ear. If the man had been a Jack- 
in-the-box he could not have leaped more 
quickly round. His pistol was out and 
cocked in a moment I 

The growl was followed by a roar, which 
drove all the blood back into Davyds heart, 
and seemed to freeze it there — solid. 

The man was no coward, as was quite 
clear, for at first he boldly stood his ground. 
But he would have been more than mortal 
if he had not felt some strange qualms about 
his heart when he saw a large white bear 
rushing furiously towards him. The animal 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


71 


came tliis time from tlie interior of the small 
island. The seaman knew well the place 
over which young Grregory had jumped when 
he had been chased. After wavering for a 
moment or two he turned and fled. Another 
tremendous roar helped him over the ice 
like a deer, and he took the chasm with a 
bound like an India-rubber ball. 

It must certainly have been the same ani- 
mal that chased Gregory, for, instead of try- 
ing to leap the chasm, it went to another 
part of the rent, and scrambled across. This 
gave Butts time to increase the distance be- 
tween them, but a man is no match for a polar 
bear in a race. The monster was soon close 
up with him, and the ship still far off. The 
man knew his danger ; he turned, took a 
quick aim, and fired. He missed, of course ; 
flung the pistol in desperation in the bear’s 
face, and ran on. The pistol happened to 
stick in the snow, with the butt in the air, 
and when the bear came up to it he stopped 
to smell it I 

It is well known, now-a-days, that polar 
bears are full of curiosity, and will stop for 
a few minutes to examine anything that 
comes in their way, even when they are in 


72 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


full chase of a man. Davy Butts knew no- 
thing of this at the time; but he was a quick- 
witted fellow. He observed this stopping of 
the bear, and determined to give him some- 
thing more to stop at. 

When bruin was- close at his heels, he 
threw down his cap. The bear at once 
pulled up, smelt it all round, tossed it into 
the air with his snout, pawed it once or 
twice, then tore it to pieces with one wrench, 
and continued the chase. Yery little time 
was lost in this operation. He was soon up 
with the man again, then a mitten was 
thrown down for his inspection. After that 
the other mitten went, the cravat followed, 
and the axe went next. All that I have just 
related happened in a very few minutes. 
Davy was still d, good quarter of a mile from 
the brig ; everything that he could tear off 
his person in haste and throw down was 
gone, and the bear was once more coming 
up behind. As a last hope he pulled off his 
heavy fur coat, and dropped it. This seemed 
to be a subject of great interest to the bear, 
for it was longer of inspecting it than the 
other things. And now poor Butts went 
tearing along like a maniac, in his flannel 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


73 


shirt and trousers. He was a miserable and 
curious object, for his body, besides being 
very long, was uncommonly lanky, and his 
legs and arras seemed to go like the wings 
of a windmill. Never, since the day of his 
birth, had David Butts run at such a pace, in 
such light clothing, and in such severe frost ! 

A long line of low hummocks hid him 
from the brig. The moment he passed these 
he P.Amft in sicrTit. r>f bnr. anrl began tO yell. 



exclaimed Joe 


Davis, who chanced to be looking over the 
gangway when this remarkable object ap- 
peared. 

** The wild man o’ the North himself, or 
my name ain’t Jim,” said Crofts, turning pale. 

Why, it’s Davy Butts, I do believe,” 
cried Sam Baker, who came on deck at that 
moment. 

Just then the^bear came tearing round the 
end of the hummocks in full chase. 

Hurrah I hallo ! ho I” roared the men, who 
had crowded on deck at the first note of 
alarm. \ 

Sam Baker seized a heavy ash handspike, 
about five feet long, and wa^ on his way- to 


7 


74 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


meet his comrade before the others had 
gained the ice. They were not slow, how- 
ever. Some with muskets, some with pis- 
tols and cutlasses, and some with nothing 
but their fists — all followed Sam, who was 
now far ahead. 

Baker passed Davy without a remark, and 
ran straight at the bear, which stopped on 
seeing such a big, powerful man running so 
furiously at him, and flourishing a bludgeon 
that would almost have suited the hand of a 
giant. But polar bears are not timid. He 
rose on his hind legs at once, and paid no 
attention whatever to the tremendous crack 
that Sam dealt him over the skull. The 
blow broke the handspike in two, and the 
fool-hardy seaman would soon have paid for 
his rashness with his life had not friendly 
and steady hands been near. Nothing daunt- 
ed, he was about to repeat the blow with the 
piece of the handspike that was still in his 
grasp, and the bear was about to seize him 
with its claws, each of which were full two 
inches long, when the first mate and Gregory 
came running towards them, side by side ; 
the first armed with a rifle, the doctor with 
pistols. 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


75 


** Too late,” gasped Gregory. 

We must- fire,” said Mansell, ^^and risk 
hitting Sam. Here, doctor, you are a good 
shot ; take the rifle.” 

The young man obeyed, dropped on one 
knee, and took aim, but did not fire. Sam 
was between him and the bear. A sudden 
movement changed their positions. The side 
of the monster came into view, and in an- 
other instant it was stretched on the ice with 
a bullet in its brain* 


CHAPTEK m 

A GREAT BATTLE WITH THE WALRUS. 

I T need scarcely be said that there was a 
jovial feast that night at supper. The 
bear’s tongue was cooked after all, but the 
impudent tongues of the party were not 
silenced, for they almost worried the life out 
of poor Davy for having run away from a 
bear. 

Soon after this event the preparations for 
spending the winter were completed ; at least 


76 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


as far as the fitting up of the vessel was con- 
cerned. 

‘^This morning,” writes Gregory, in his 
journal, we finished housing over our 
Arctic home. The Hope is very snug, lined 
with moss, and almost covered with snow. A 
sail has been spread over the quarter-deck like 
an awning; it is also covered with moss and 
snow. This, we hope, will give much addi- 
tional warmth to our house below. W e all 
live together now, men and officers. It will 
require our united strength to fight success- 
fully against that terrible enemy,- John Frost. 
John is king of the Arctic regions, undoubt- 
edly ! 

“ Dawkins got a cold-bath yesterday that 
amused the men much, and did him no harm. 
For some time past we have been carrying 
moss from the island in large bundles. Daw- 
kins got leave to help, as he said he was sick- 
tired of always working among stores. He 
was passing close to the fire-hole with a great 
bundle of moss on his back, when his foot 
slipped, and down he went. This hole is 
kept constantly open. It is Baker’s duty 
night and morning to break the ice, and have 
it ready in case of fire. The ice on the sur- 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


77 


face was therefore thin; in a moment no- 
thing was to be seen of poor Dawkins but 
his bundle I Fortunately he held tight on 
to it, and we hauled him out, soaked to the 
skin. The thermometer stood at 35° below 
zero, the coldest day we have had up to this 
time; and in two minutes the unfortunate 
man’s clothes were frozen so stiff* that he 
could scarcely walk I We had to break the 
ice on his legs and arms at the joints, and 
even then he had to be half hoisted on board 
and carried below. We all dress in seal -skin 
and fox-skin garments now. Dawkins had 
on a rough coat, made of white and gray 
foxes; trousers of the same; boots of seal- 
skin, and mittens ditto. When all this was 
soaked and frozen he was truly a humbling 
sight I 

The undressing of him was a labor of 
difficulty as well as of love. However, when 
he was rubbed dry, and re-clothed, he was 
none the worse. Indeed, I am inclined to 
think he was much the better of his ducking. 

To-morrow we are to make some curious 
experiments with boats, sledges, and kites. 
The captain is anxious to take our largest 
7* 


78 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


boat over tbe ice as far to the -south as pos- 
sible, and leave her there with a quantity of 
provisions^ so that we may have her to fall 
back upon if any misfortune should befall 
the brig, which I earnestly pray that God 
may forbid. 

Davy Butts, who is an ingenious fellow 
in his way, says that we can sail a boat on 
the ice almost as well as on the water, and 
that we may drag sledges by means of kites, 
if we choose. The captain means to attempt 
a journey to the north with sledges in spring, 
so, if the kites answer, Butts will have done 
us good service. But I have my doubts. 

The nights are closing in fast ; very soon 
we shall be without the sun altogether. But 
the moon is cheering us. Last night (28th 
October) she swept in a complete circle round 
the sky all day as well as all night. She only 
touched the horizon, and then, instead of set- 
ting, she rose again, as if the frozen sea had 
frightened her. 

“ October ZOth . — ^Baker came in to-day and 
reported open water about six miles off, and 
walrus sporting in it. I shall set out to- 
morrow on a hunt.” 

The hunt which the young doctor here 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


79 


wrote of; came oiBf on the following day, but 
it was a very different one from what any of 
the men had expected. 

Early in the morning, Baker, Davy Butts, 
and .Gregory set off on foot, armed with a 
rifle and two muskets, besides a couple of 
harpoons, a whale-lance, and a long line. 
They also took a small sledge, which was 
intended to be used in hauling home the 
meat if they should be successful. Three 
hours’ hard walking brought the party to 
the edge of the solid ice, after which they 
travelled on the floes that were being con- 
stantly broken by the tides, and were only 
joined together by ice of a night or two old. 
This was little more than an inch thick, so 
they had to advance with caution. 

Presently the loud mooing of a bull walrus 
was heard. Its roar was something between 
the lowing of a bull and the bark of a large 
dog, but much louder, for the walrus resem- 
bles an elephant in size more than any other 
animal. Soon after they came in sight of 
their game. Five walrus were snorting and 
barking in a hole which they had broken in 
the ice. The way in which this huge mon- 
ster opens a hole when he wants to get out of 


80 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


the sea, is to come up from below with con- 
siderable violence and send his head crashing 
through the ice. 

The three men now became very wary. 
They crept on their hands and knees behind 
the ice hummocks, until within about a 
hundred yards of the brutes. Then they 
ascended a small hummock to take a look 
round and decide on their plan of operations. 
While lying there, flat on their faces, they 
took particular care to keep their heads well 
Concealed ; just raising them high enough to 
observe the position of the walrus. There 
was a sheet of flat ice between them and the 
hole, so that it was impossible to advance 
nearer without being seen. This perplexed 
them much, for although their bullets might 
hit at that distance, they would not be able 
to run in quick enough to use their lances, 
and the harpoons would be of no use at all. 

While thus undecided what to do, they 
were unexpectedly taught a lesson in walrus 
hunting that surprised them not a little. 

Hallo I there’s a bear !” whispered Davy 
Butts, as a hairy object crawled out from 
behind an ice-hummock, about two hundred 
yards from the place where they lay, and 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


81 


made towards the walrus in a sly cat-like 
manner. 

'^More like a seal,” observed Baker. 

' A seal ! why it’s a man /” said Gregory 
in a low excited whisper. 

So it is, ^ure enough,” said Baker ; it 
must be an Eskimo, though his hairy gar- 
ments make him look more like a bear than 
a man, and as the fellow has got here before 
us, I suppose we must give up our claim to 
the brutes.” 

Time enough to talk of that when the 
brutes are killed,” said Gregory with a 
smile. But lie still, lads. We will take a 
lesson from this fellow, who has been so 
earnestly staring at the walrus that he has 
not noticed us.” 

The three men lay perfectly motionless 
watching the native, who crept as near to 
the hole as he could without being seen, and 
then waited for a few minutes until the 
creatures should dive. This they were con- 
stantly doing ; staying down a few moments 
at a time, and then coming up to breathe — 
for the walrus cannot live without air. He 
is not a fish, and although he can stay down 
a long time, he must come to the surface 


82 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


occasionally to breatlie. In tliis lie resem- 
bles tbe seal and the whale. 

Presently, down they all went with a tre- 
mendous splash. Now was the moment I the 
Eskimo rose, ran at full speed for a few 
yards, then fell flat on his face, and lay quite 
still as if he had been shot dead. The reason 
of this was soon apparent. He understood 
the habits of the walrus, and knew that they 
would rise again. This they did almost the 
moment after, and began their snorting, bel- 
lowing, and rolling again. Once more they 
dived. Up got the Eskimo, ran a few yards 
further forward, and then fell flat down as 
before. In this way he got near to the hole 
without being seen. 

The watchers observed that he carried a 
harpoon and a coil of thick line. 

The next time the walrus dived, he ran to 
the edge of the hole, but now, instead of 
falling down, he stood quite still with the 
harpoon raised above his head ready to be 
thrown*// In a few moments the monsters 
reappeared. Two rose close at the edge of 
the hole ; one was a male, the other a female. 
They were frightfully ugly to look at. 
Shaking the water from his head and shoul- 









PAST IN THE ICE. 


83 


ders, the bull at once caught sight of the man 
who had thus suddenly appeared. At that 
instant the Eskimo threw up his left arm. 
This action, instead of frightening the brutes 
away, caused them to raise themselves high 
out of the water, in order to have a good 
look at the strange creature who had thus 
dared to disturb them in their watery home. 
This was just what the native wanted. It 
gave him a chance of driving the harpoon 
under the flipper of the male. The instant 
this was done he caught up the end of his 
coil and ran quickly back to the full length 
of the line. 

The battle that now began was- perhaps 
one of the<flercest that was ever -fought in 
the Arctic regions. The walrus lashed the 
water furiously for a second or two and 
dived. This checked the native, who at 
once stopped running, drove the sharp point 
of a little piece of wood into the ice, and put 
the loop at the end of his line over it. He 
pressed the loop close down to the ice with 
his feet, so that he could hold on when it 
tightened, which it did with great force. But 
the line was a stout one. It had been cut 
from the hide of a walrus, and prepared in a 


84 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


peculiar way for tlie purpose of standing a 
heavy strain. 

The Eskimo now played the monster as 
an angler plays a trout. At one moment he 
held on, the next he eased off. The line was 
sometimes like a bar of iron, then it was 
slackened off as the animal rose and darted 
about. After this had happened once or 
twice the bull came to the surface, blowing 
tremendously, and began to bark and roar 
in great fury. The female came up at the 
same time. She evidently meant to stick 
by her partner and share his danger. The 
others had dived and made off at the first 
sign of war. 

The wounded walrus was a little fiurried 
and very angry ; the female was not at all 
frightened, she was passionately furious I 
Both of them tore up the ice tables with 
their great ivory tusks, and glared at their 
enemy with an expression that there was no 
mistaking. The walrus is- well known to be 
one of the -fiercest animals in the world* 
Woe to the poor native if he had been caught 
by these monsters at that time. 

After some minutes spent in uselessly 
smashing the ice, and trying to get at the 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


85 


native, they both dived. Now came into 
play the Eskimo’s knowledge of the animal’s 
habits, and his- skill in this cnrions kind of 
warfare. Before diving they looked steadily 
at the man for a second, and then swam 
under the ice straight for the spot where he 
stood. The Eskimo of course could not see 
this, but he knew it from past experience. 
He therefore changed his position instantly ; 
ran a few yards to one side and planted his 
stick and loop again. This had hardly been 
done when the ice burst up with a loud 
crash ; a hole of more than fifteen feet wide 
was made on the exact spot which the man 
had quitted, and the walrus appeared with a 
puff like that of a steam-engine, and a roar 
that would have done credit to a lion. 

The great lumpish-looking heads and 
square cut faces of the creatures looked 
frightful at this point in the fight. There 
was something like human intelligence in 
their malicious and brutal faces, as the water 
poured down their cheeks and over their 
bristling beards, mingled with blood and 
foam. 

At this moment there was a shout close at 

8 


86 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


hand, and two other Eskimos ran out from 
behind the ice-hummocks and joined their 
comrade. They were armed with long lances, 
the handles of which were made of bone, and 
the points of beautiful white -ivory tipped 
with steel. It was afterwards discovered 
that these natives obtained small pieces of 
iron and steel from the Eskimos further 
south, who were in the habit of trading at 
the settlements on the coast of Greenland. 

The strangers at once ran to the edge of 
the pool and gave the bull walrus two 
deep wounds with their- lances. They also 
wounded the female. This seemed to render 
them more furious than ever. They dived 
again. The first Eskimo again shifted his 
position, and the others ran back a short 
distance. They were not a moment too soon 
in these changes, for the ice was again burst 
upward at the spot they had just quitted, 
and the enraged beasts once more came bel- 
lowing to the surface and vented their fury 
on the ice. 

It may seem almost incredible to the 
reader, hut it is a fact, that this battle lasted 
fully four hours. At the end of the third 
hour it seemed to the sailors who were 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


37 


watching it, that the result was still doubt- 
ful, for the Eskimos were evidently becom- 
ing tired, while the monsters of the Polar 
seas were still furious. 

think we might help them with a bul- 
let,” whispered Baker. It might frighten 
them perhaps, but it would save them a good 
deal of trouble.” 

^^Wait a little longer,” replied Gregory, 
have it in my mind to astonish them. 
You see they have wounded the female very 
badly, but when the male dies, which he 
cannot now be long of doing, she will dive 
and make off, and so they’ll lose her, for 
they don’t seem to have another harpoon 
and line.” 

Perhaps they have one behind the hum- 
mocks,” suggested Davy Butts, whose teeth 
were chattering in his head with cold. 

'^If they had, they would have used it 
long ago,” said Gregory. ^^At any rate I 
mean to carry out my plan — which is. this. 
When the bull is about dead I will fire at 
the female and try to hit her in a deadly 
part, so as to kill her at once. Then, Sam, 
you will run out with our harpoon and dart 
into her to prevent her sinking, or diving if 


88 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


she should not be killed. And you, Davy, 
will follow me and be ready with a musket.” 

This plan had just been settled when the 
bull wu,lrus began to show signs of approach- 
ing death. Gregory therefore took a de- 
liberate aim with the rifle and fired. The 
result was startling! The female walrus 
began to roll and lash about furiously, 
smashing the ice and covering the sea 
around with bloody foam. At first the 
Eskimos stood motionless — rooted to the 
spot, as if they had been thunderstruck. 
But when they saw Sam Baker dart from 
behind the hummock, flourishing his har- 
poon, followed by Gregory and Butts, their 
courage deserted them ; they turned in terror 
and fled. 

On getting behind the hummocks, how- 
ever, they halted and peeped over the ledges 
of ice to see what the seamen did. 

Sam Baker, being an old whaleman, darted 
his harpoon cleverly, and held fast the strug- 
gling animal. At the same time Davy Butts 
seized the end of the line which the natives 
had thrown down in terror, and held on to 
the bull. It was almost dead, and quite un- 
able to show any more fight. Seeing that 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


89 


all was right; Gregory now laid down his 
rifle and advanced slowly to the hummock, 
behind which the Eskimos had taken refuge. 

He knew, from the reports of previous 
travellers, that holding up both arms is a 
sign of peace with the Eskimos. He there- 
fore stopped when within a short distance of 
the hummocks, and held up his arms. The 
signal was understood at once. The natives 
leaped upon the top of the hummock, and 
held up their arms in reply. Again Gregory 
tossed up his, and made signs to them to 
draw near. This they did without hesita- 
tion, and the doctor shook them by the hand, 
and patted their hairy shoulders. They were 
all of them stout, well-made fellows, about 
five feet seven or eight inches high, and very 
broad across the shoulders. They were fat, 
too, and oily-faced, jolly -looking men. They 
smiled and talked to each other for a few 
moments and then spoke to Gregory, but 
when he shook his head, as much as to say, 

** I don’t understand you,” they burst into a 
loud laugh. Then they suddenly became 
grave, and ran at full speed towards the hole 
where the walrus floated, 

8f 


90 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


Davy Butts made the usual sign of friend- 
ship, and handed them the end of their line, 
which they seized, and set about securing 
their prize without taking any farther notice 
of their new friends. 

The manner in which these wild yet good- 
natured fellows hauled the enormous carcass 
out of the water was simple and ingenious. 
They made four cuts in the neck, about two 
inches apart from each other, and raised the 
skin between these cuts, thus making two 
bands. Through one of these bands they 
passed a line, and carried it to a stick made 
fast in the ice, where they passed it through 
a loop of well-greased hide. It was then 
carried back to the animal, made to pass 
under the second band, and the end was 
hauled in by the Eskimos. This formed a 
sort of double purchase, that enabled them 
to pull out of the hole a carcase which double 
their numbers could not have hauled up. 

Some idea of the bull’s weight may be 
formed when I say that the carcass was 
eighteen feet long, and eleven feet in circum- 
ference at the thickest part. There were no 
fewer than sixty deep lance-wounds in vari- 
ous parts of its body. 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


91 


When seen close at hand the walrus is a 
very ugly monster. It is something like a 
gigantic seal, having two large flippers, or 
fins, near its shoulders, and two others be- 
hind, that look like its tail. It uses these in 
swimming, but can also use them on land, so 
as to crawl, or rather to bounce forward in 
a clumsy fashion. By means of its fore- 
flippers it can raise itself high out of the 
water, and get upon the ice and rocks. It 
is fond of doing this, and is often found 
sleeping in the sunshine on the ice and on 
rocks. It has even been known to scramble 
up the side of an island to a height of a 
hundred feet, and there lie basking in the sun. 

Nevertheless, the water is the proper ele- 
ment of the walrus. All its motions are 
clumsy and slow until it gets into the sea ; 
there it is at home.” Its upper face has a 
square, bluff look, and its broad muzzle and 
cheeks are covered by a coarse beard of 
bristles, like quills. The two white tusks 
point downwards. In this they are unlike 
to those of the elephant. The tujjks of the 
bull killed on this occasion were thirt3cinches 
long. The hide of the walrus is nearly an 
inch thick, and is covered with close, short 


92 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


hair. Beneatli tlie skin lie lias a thick layer 
of fat, and this enables him to resist the ex- 
treme cold in the midst of which he dwells. 

The walrus is of great value to the Eski- 
mos. But for it and the seal these poor 
members of the human family could not 
exist at all in those frozen regions. As it is, 
it costs them a severe struggle to keep the 
life in their bodies. But they do not com- 
plain of what aeems to us a hard lot. They 
have been born to it. They know no hap- 
pier condition of life. They wish for no 
better home, and the All- wise Creator has 
fitted them admirably, both in mind and 
body, to live and even to enjoy life in a re- 
gion where most other men could live only 
in great discomfort, if they could exist at all. 

The Eskimos cut the walrus’s thick hide 
into long lines with which they hunt — as we 
have seen. They do not cut these lines in 
strips and join them in many places ; but, 
beginning at one end of the skin they cut 
round and round without break to the centre, 
and thus secure a line of many fathoms in 
length. 

It is truly said that '^ necessity is the mo- 
ther of invention.” These natives have no 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


93 


wood. Not a single tree grows in the whole 
land ' of which I am writing. There are 
plenty of plants, grasses, mosses, and beau- 
tiful flowers in summer— growing, too, close 
beside ice-fields that remain unmelted all the 
year round. But there is -not a tree large 
enough to make a harpoon of. Consequently 
the Eskimos are obliged to make sledges of 
bones ; and as the bones and tusks of the 
walrus are not big enough for this purpose, 
they tie and piece them together in a re- 
markably neat and ingenious manner. 

Sometimes, indeed, they find pieces of 
drift-wood in the sea. Wrecks of whale- 
ships, too, are occasionally found by the na- 
tives in the south of Greenland. A few pieces 
of the precious wood obtained in this way 
are exchanged from one tribe to another, and 
so find their way north. But the further 
north we go, the fewer pieces of this kind 
of wood do we find ; and in the far north, 
where our adventurous voyagers were now 
ice-bound, the Eskimos have very little wood, 
indeed. 

Food is the chief object which the Eskimo 
has in view when he goes out to do battle 
with the walrus. Its flesh is somewhat 


94 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


coarse, no doubt, but it is excellent, nourish- 
ing food notwithstanding, and although a 
well-fed Englishman might turn up his nose at 
it, many starving Englishmen have smacked 
their lips over walrus-beef in days gone by, 
— ay, and have eaten it raw, too, with much 
delight I 

Let not my reader doubt the truth of this. 
Well-known and truth-loving men have 
dwelt for a time in those regions, and some 
of these have said that they actually came 
to prefer the walrus flesh raw, because it was 
more strengthening, and fitted them better 
for undertaking long and trying journeys in 
extremely cold weather. One of the most 
gallant men who ever went to the Polar seas 
(Dr. Kane, of the American navy), tells us, 
in his delightful book,* that he frequently 
ate raw flesh, and liked it, and that the Es- 
kimos often eat it raw. In fact, they are not 
particular. They will eat it cooked or raw^ 
just as happens to be most convenient for 
them. 

When the animals, whose killing I have 
described, were secured, the Eskimos pro- 


* “ Arctic Explorations." 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


95 


ceeded to skin and cut them up. Tke sailors 
of course assisted, and learned a lesson. 
While this was going on one of their num- 
ber went away for a short time, and soon re- 
turned with a sledge drawn by about a dozen 
dogs. This they loaded with the meat and 
hide of the bull, intending evidently to leave 
the cow to their new friends, as being their 
property. But Gregory thought they were 
entitled to a share of it, so, after loading his 
sledge with a considerable portion of the 
meat, he gave them the remainder along with 
the hide. 

This pleased them mightily, and caused 
them tQ talk much, though to little purpose. 
However, Gregory made good use of the 
language of signs. He also delighted them 
with the gift of a brass ring, an old knife, 
and a broken pencil-case, and made them 
understand that his abode was not far dis- 
tant, by drawing the figure of a walrus 
in a hole on the snow, and then a thing 
like a bee-hive at some distance from it, 
pointing northward at the same time. He 
struck a harpoon into the outline of the 
W'alrus, to show that it was the animal that 
had just been killed, and then went and lay 


96 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


down in the picture of the bee-hive, to show 
that he dwelt there. 

The natives understood this quite well. 
They immediately drew another bee-hive, 
pointed to the south and to the sun, and held 
up five fingers. From this it was understood 
that their village was five days distant from 
the spot where they then were. 

He next endeavored to purchase three of 
their dogs, but they objected to this, and re- 
fused to accept of three knives as a price 
for them. They were tempted, however, by 
the offer of a whale harpoon and a hemp 
line, and at last agreed to let him have three 
of their best dogs. This the young doctor 
considered a piece of great good fortune, and 
being afraid that they would repent, he pre- 
pared to leave the place at once. The dogs 
were fastened by lines to the sledge of their 
new masters. A whip was made out of a 
strip of walrus hide, a bone served for a 
handle, and away they went for the brig at 
a rattling pace, after bidding the natives 
farewell, and making them understand that 
they hoped to meet again in the course of 
the winter. 

Thus happily ended their first meeting 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


97 


with the JEskimos. It may well be believed 
that there was both astonishment and satis- 
fhction on board the Hope that night, when 
the hunting party returned, much sooner 
tfian had been expected, with the whip crack- 
ing, the men cheering, the dogs howling, 
and the sledge well laden with fresh meat. 


CHAPTER YIII. 

THE CAUSE OF ICE-BEKGS — FOX-CHASE — A 
BEAR. 

O NE day, long after the walrus-hunt just 
described, Joe Davis stood on the 
deck of the Hope, leaning over the side and 
looking out to sea— at least in the direction 
of the sea, for, although mid-day, it was so 
dark that he could not see very far in any 
direction. Joe was conversing with Mr. 
Dicey on the appearance of things around 
him. 

'^Do you know, Mr. Dicey,” said he, wot 
it is as causes them there ice-bergs ?” 

Mr. Dicey looked very grave and wise 

9 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


for a few seconds without answering. Then 
he said, in rather a solemn tone, ^^Well, 
Davis, to tell you the real truth, I dorCt 
know I” 

Now, as this question is one of consider- 
able interest, I shall endeavor to answer it 
for the benefit of the reader. 

The whole of the interior of Greenland is 
covered with ice and snow. This snowy 
covering does not resemble that soft snow 
which falls on our own hills. It is hard, and 
never melts entirely away. The snow there 
is in some places a thousand^^feet thick ! It 
covers all the hill-tops and fills up all the 
valleys, so that the country may be said to 
be a buried land. Since the world began, 
perhaps, snow has been falling on it every 
winter; but the summers there have been so 
short that they could not melt away the 
snow of one winter before that of another 
came and covered it up and pressed it down. 
Thus, for ages, the snow of one year has 
been added to that which was left of the 
preceding, and the pressure has been so 
great that the mass has been squeezed nearly 
as hard as pure ice. 

The ice that has been formed in this way 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


99 


is called and tlie -glaciers of Green- 

land oover, as I have said, the whole coun- 
try, so that it can never be cultivated or 
inhabited by man unless the climate change. 
There are glaciers of this kind in many 
other parts of the world. We have them in 
Switzerland and in Norway, but not on 
nearly so large a scale as in Greenland. 

Now, although this glacier- ice is clear and 
hard, it is not quite so solid as pure ice, and 
when it is pushed down into the valleys by 
the increasing masses above it, actually 
flows. But this flowing motion cannot be 
seen. It is like the motion of the hour hand 
of a watch, which cannot be perceived how- 
ever closely it may be looked at. You might 
go to one of the valleys of Greenland and 
gaze at a glazier for days together, but you 
would see no motion whatever. All would 
appear solid, frozen up, and still. But notice 
a block of stone lying on the surface of the 
glacier, and go back many months after and 
you will find the stone lying a little further 
down the valley than when you first saw it. 
Thus glaciers are formed and thus they 
slowly move. But what has all this to do 
with ice-bergs? We shall see. 


100 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


As the great -glaciers of the north, then, 
are continually moving down the valleys, of 
course their ends are pushed into the sea. 
These ends, or tongues, are often hundreds 
of feet thick. In some places they present 
a clear glittering wall to the sea of several 
hundreds of feet in height, with perhaps as 
much again lost to view down in the deep 
water. As the extremities of these tongues 
are shoved farther and farther out they chip 
off and float away. These chips are ice-bergs ! 
I have already said that ice-bergs are some- 
times miles in extent — like islands; that 
they sink seven or eight hundred feet below 
the surface, while their tops rise more than 
a hundred feet above it — like mountains. If 
these, then, are the - ^ chips” of the Greenland 
glaciers, what must the old blocks” be ? 

Many a long and animated discussion the 
sailors had that winter in the cabin of the 
Hope on the subject of ice and ice-bergs I 

When the dark nights drew on, little or 
nothing could be done outside by our voy- 
agers, and when the ice everywhere closed 
up, all the animals forsook them except 
polar bears, so that they ran short of fresh 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


101 


provisions. As months of dreary darkness 
passed away, the scurvy, that terrible dis- 
ease, began to show itself among the men ; 
their bodies became less able to withstand 
the cold, and it was difficult for them at last 
to keep up their spirits. But they fought 
against their troubles bravely. 

Captain Harvey knew well that when a 
man’s spirits go he is not worth much. He 
therefore did his utmost to cheer and enliven 
those around him. 

One day, for instance, he went on deck to 
breathe a mouthful of fresh air. It was 
about eleven in the forenoon, and the moon 
was shining brightly in the clear sky. The 
stars, too, and the aurora borealis, helped to 
make up for the total absence of the sun. 
The cold air cut like a knife against his face 
when he issued from the hatchway, and the 
cold nose of one of the dogs immediately 
touched his hand, as the animal gambolled 
round him with delight; for the extreme 
severity of the weather began to tell on the 
poor dogs, and made them draw more lov- 
ingly to their human companions. 

Ho I hallo !” shouted the captain down 
9 * 


102 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


the hatchway. A fox chase I a fox chase I 
Tumble up all hands I” 

The men were sitting at the time in a very 
dull and silent mood. They were much cast 
down, for as it had been cloudy weather for 
some weeks past, thick darkness had covered 
them night and day, so that they could not 
tell the one from the other, except by the 
help of their watches, which were kept care- 
fully going. Their journals, also, were writ- 
ten up daily, otherwise they must certainly 
have got confused in their time altogether I 
In consequence of this darkness the men 
were confined almost entirely to the cabin 
for a time. Those who had scurvy, got 
worse ; those who were well, became gloomy. 
Even Pepper, who was a tremendous joker, 
held his tongue, and Joe Davis, who was a 
great singer, became silent. Jim Crofts was 
in his bunk down” with the scurvy, and 
stout Sam Baker, who was a capital- teller 
of stories, could not pluck up spirit enough 
to open his mouth. In fact,” as Mr. Dicey 
said, ^^they all had a most horrible fit o’ the 
bluest” The captain and officers were in 
better health and spirits than thei men, 
though they all fared alike at the-same^ table, 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


103 


and did the same kind of work, whatever 
that might chance to be. The officers, how- 
ever, were constantly exerting themselves to 
cheer the men, and I have no doubt that this 
very effort of theirs was the means of doing 
good to themselves. ^^He that watereth 
others shall be watered,” says the Word of 
God. I take this to mean — he that does 
good to others shall get good to himself. So 
it certainly was with the officers of the Hope. 

When the captain’s shout reached the 
cabin Jim Crofts had just said : — I’ll tell 
yee what it is, messmates, if this here state 
of things goes on much longer. I’ll go out 
on the floes, walk up to the first polar bear 
I meet, and ask him to take his supper off 
me I” 

There was no laugh at this, but Pepper 
remarked, in a quiet way, that he need’nt 
put himself to so much trouble, for he was 
such a pale-faced, disagreeable looking ob- 
ject, that no bear would eat him unless it 
was starving.” 

Well, then. I’ll offer myself to a starvin’ 
bear, — to one that’s a’most dead with hun- 
ger,” retorted Jim, gloomily. 

What’s that the cap’en is singin’ out ?” 


104 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


said Davy Butts, who was mending a pair 
of canvas shoes. 

The men roused themselves at once ; for 
the hope of anything new turning up ex- 
cited them. 

Hallo I ho I” roared the captain again, in 
a voice that might have started a dead wal- 
rus. Tumble up, there ! — a fox chase I I’ll 
give my second-best fur-coat to the man that 
catches foxey I” 

In one instant the whole crew were scram- 
bling up the ladder. Even Jim Crofts, who 
was really ill, rolled out of his bunk and stag- 
gered on deck, saying he would have a go 
after foxey if he should die for it !” 

The game of fox is simple/ One man is 
chosen to be the fox. He runs off and the 
rest follow. They are bound to go wherever 
the fox leads. In this case it was arranged 
that the fox should run round the deck until 
he should be caught; then the man who 
caught him should become4bx, and continue 
running on with all the rest following, until 
he, in turn, should be caught, and so on 
until the one who could run longest and 
fastest should break down all the rest. The 
warm fur-coat was a prize worth running 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


105 


for in sucli a cold climate, so the game be- 
gan with spirit. Young Gregory offered to 
be fox first, and away they went with a yell. 
Mr. Mansell was a little lame, and soon gave 
in. Mr. Dicey fell at the second round, and 
was unable to recover distance. Gregory 
would certainly have gained the coat, for he 
was strong, and had been a crack racer at 
school; but he did not want the coat, so 
allowed Sam Baker to catch him. Sam held 
on like a deer for a few minutes, and one 
after another the men dropped off as they 
were blown. Jim Crofts, poor fellow, made 
a gallant burst, but his limbs refused to help 
his spirit. He fell, and was assisted below 
by the captain and replaced in his bunk, 
where, however, he felt the benefit of his 
efforts. 

The chase was now kept up by Sam Ba- 
ker, Joe Davis, and Butts. These three were 
struggling on and panting loudly, while their 
comrades danced about, clapped their mit- 
tened hands, and shouted Now, then, Sam ! 
— go in, and win, Joe I— Butts for ever I” and 
such like encouraging cries. 

To the surprise of every one Davy Butts 
came off the winner, and for many a day 


106 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


after that enjoyed the warm coat which he 
said his long legs had gained for him. 

This effort of the captain to cheer the men 
was very successful, so he resolved to follow 
it up with an attempt at private theatricals. 
Accordingly the thing was proposed, and 
heartily agreed to. Next day every one was 
busy making preparations. Tom Gregory 
agreed to write a short play. Sam Baker 
being the healthiest man on board, was will- 
ing to act the part of an invalid old lady, 
and Jim Crofts consented to become a gay 
young doctor for that occasion. 

Meanwhile the captain arranged a piece 
of real work, for he felt that the attempt to 
keep up the spirits alone would not do. They 
had been for a long time living on salt pro- 
visions. Nothing could restore the crew but 
fresh meat — yet fresh meat was not to be 
had. The walrus and deer were gone, and 
although foxes and bears were still around 
them, they had failed in all their attempts 
to shoot or trap any of these animals. A 
visit to the Eskimo camp, therefore (if such 
a camp really existed), became necessary; 
so, while the theatricals were in preparation, 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


107 


a small sledge was rigged up, Gregory and 
Sam Baker were chosen to go with him; 
the dogs were harnessed, and, on a fine, 
starry forenoon, away they went to the south 
at full gallop, with three hearty cheers from 
the crew of the brig, who were left in charge 
of the first mate. 

The journey thus undertaken was one full 
of risk. It was not known how far distant 
t^e natives might be, or where they were 
likely to be found. The weather was in- 
tensely cold. Only a small quantity of pre- 
served meat could be taken — for the rest, 
they trusted in some measure to their guns. 
But the captain’s great hope was to reach 
the Eskimo village in a day or two at the 
farthest. If he should fail to do so, the 
prospect of himself and his' crew surviving 
the remainder of the long winter was, he 
felt, very gloomy indeed. 

Success attended this exhibition at the 
very beginning. They had ^only been eight 
hours out when they met a bear sitting on 
its haunches behind a hummock. Hallo I 
look out I” cried Gregory on catching sight 
of him. ^'Fire, lads,” said the captain, “I’m 


108 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


not quite ready.” Gregory fired and the 
bear staggered. Baker then fired and it fell I 
^ This was a blessing which filled their 
hearts so full of thankfulness that they ac- 
tually shook hands with each other, and 
then gave vent to three hearty cheers. Their 
next thoughts were given to their comrades 
in the Hope. 

*^You and Baker will camp here, Tom,” 
said the captain, *^and I willYeturn to the 
brig with a sledge-load of the meat. When 
IVe put it aboard I’ll come straight back to 
you. We’ll keep a ham for ourselves, of 
course. How, then, to work.” 

To work the three men went. A hind leg 
of the bear was cut off, the rest was lashed 
firmly on the sledge, and the dogs enjoyed a 
feed while this was being done. Then the 
captain cracked his whip. “ Good-bye, lads,” 
Good-bye, captain,” and away he and the 
dogs and sledge went, and were soon lost to 
view among the hummocks of the fro7.en 
sea. 


V 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


109 


CHAPTER IX. 

A VISIT TO THE ESKIMOS — WONDERFUL 
DOINGS — A MYSTERY. 

proceedings of this sledge-party were 
so interesting that I gave them in the 
words of Tom Gregory’s journal : — 

^‘Sunday . — We have indeed cause to re- 
joice and to thank God for His mercies this 
morning. Last night we shot a bear, and 
the captain is away with the carcass of it to 
our poor scurvey-smitten friends in the 
Hope. This Sunday will be a real day of 
rest for me and Sam Baker, though our 
resting-place is a very queer one. After the 
captain left us, we looked about for a conve- 
nient place to encamp, and only a few yards 
from the spot where we killed the bear we 
found the ruins of an old Eskimo hut made 
partly of stones, partly of ice. We set to 
work to patch it up with snow, and made it 
perfectly air-tight in about two hours. 

Into this we carried our bear skins and 
things, spread them on the snowy floor, put 
a lump of bear’s fat into our tin travelling 
10 


110 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


lamp, and prepared supper. We were not 
particular about the cookery. We cut a 
couple of huge slices off our bear’s ham, 
half roasted them over the lamp and began. 
It was ^&ut, roast, and come again, for the 
next hour and a half. I positively never 
knew what hunger was until I came to this 
savage country ! And I certainly never be- 
fore had any idea of how much I could eat 
at one sitting I 


^'This hearty supper was washed down 
with a swig of melted snow-water. We had 
some coffee with us but were too tired to 
infuse it. Then we blocked up the door with 
snow, rolled our bear-skins round us, and 
were sound asleep in five minutes. 

** Lucky for us that we were so careful to 
stop up every hole with snow, for, during 
the night, the wind rose and it became so 
intensely cold that Baker and I could scarcely 
keep each other warm enough to sleep, tired 
though we were. At this moment my fingers 
are so stiff that they will hardly hold the 
pencil with which I write, and the gale is 
blowing so furiously outside that we dare 
not open the door. This door, by the way, 
is only a hole big enough to creep through. 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


Ill 


The captain cannot travel to-day. He knows 
we are safe, so I will not expect him. I 
have brought my small Testament with me. 
It has hitherto been my constant travelling 
companion. I am thus provided with mental 
food. But in truth I shall not want much 
of that for the next twelve hours. Best! 
rest ! rest I is what we require. Ho one can 
imagine how a man can enjoy rest, after he 
has been for many months exposed to con- 
stant, exhausting, heart-breaking toil, with 
the thermometer always below zero, and 
with nothing but salt food to keep him 
alive. 

** Tuesday night . — Here we are at last — 
among the Eskimos I and what a queer set 
they are, to be sure. All fat and fur ! They 
look as broad as they are long. They wear 
short fox and seal-skin coats, or shirts, with 
hoods to them ; no trousers, but long boots, 
that come up and meet the coats. Women, 
men, and babies, all dressed alike, or nearly 
so. The only difference is, that the women’s 
boots are longer and wider than those of the 
men. But I forget — ^yes, there is one other 
difference; the women have tails to their 
coats ; the men have none ! Real tails — not 


112 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


like the broad skirts of our dress-coats, but 
long, narrow tails, something like the tail 
of a cow, with a broadish flap at the end of 
it. This they evidently look upon as a 
handsome ornament, for I observe that when 
they go off on a journey, each woman but- 
tons her tail up to her waist, to keep it out 
of the way, and when she returns she un- 
buttons it, and comes into camp with her tail 
flowing gracefully behind her I 

'^We had a terrible journey of it down 
here. The captain returned to us on Mon- 
day morning early, and the next two days 
we spent struggling over the hummocks, 
and out upon the floes. It was so cold that 
the wind cut into our very marrow. We 
have all had our faces frozen, more or less, 
but not badly. Baker will have an ugly 
spot on the end of his nose for some weeks 
to come. It is getting black, now, and as 
the nose itself is bright red, and much 
swelled, his appearance is not improved. I 
foolishly tried to eat a little snow yesterday 
morning, and the consequence is ’ that my 
lips are sore and bloody. On Monday after- 
noon the dogs and sledge went head over 
heels into a deep rut in the ice, and it cost 









PAST IN THE ICE. 


113 


us two hours to get them out again. Luckily 
no damage was don6; although the captain 
was on the sledge at the time. 

We had almost despaired of finding the 
village when we came upon a sledge track 
that led us straight up to it. I shall never 
forget the beauty of the scene on our arrival. 
The sky was lighted up with the most beau- 
tiful aurora I have yet seen in these regions. 
Stars spangled the sky in millions. Great 
ice-bergs rose in wild confusion in the dis- 
tance, and all along the shore for a few hun- 
dred yards were clusters of snow-huts. They 
looked exactly like big bee-hives. I have 
seen many a strange house, but the strangest 
of all is certainly a house of snow ! To-day 
I was fortunate enough to see one built. It 
was done very neatly. The hard snow was 
cut into slabs with a wooden knife. These 
were piled one above another in regular or- 
der, and cemented with snow — as bricks are 
with lime. The form of the waU was circu- 
lar, and the slabs were so shaped that they 
sloped inwards, thus forming a dome, or 
large bee-hive, with a key-stone slab in the 
top, to keep all firm. A hole was then cut 


114 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


in the side for a door — just large enough to 
admit of a man creeping through. In front 
of this door a porch or passage of snow was 
built. The only way of getting into the hut 
is by creeping on hands and knees along the 
passage. A hole was also cut in the roof, 
into which was inserted a piece of clear ice, 
to serve for a window. 

The natives received us with wild sur- 
prise, and I found my old friends, the walrus 
hunters, among them. They were remarka- 
bly friendly. One stout, middle-aged fellow 
invited us to his hut. I am now seated in 
it beside the Eskimo’s wife, who would be a 
good-looking woman if she were not so fat, 
dirty, and oily ! But we cannot expect peo- 
ple living in this fashion, and in such a 
country, to be very clean. Although the 
hut is white outside, it is by no means white 
inside. They cook all their food over an 
oil-lamp, which also serves to heat the place ; 
and it is wonderful how warm a house of 
snow becomes. The cold outside is so great 
as to prevent the walls melting inside. (.Be- 
sides Myouk, our host, and his wife, there 
are two of the man’s sisters, two lads, two 
girls and a baby in the hut. Also six dogs. 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


115 


The whole of them — men, women, children, 
and dogs, are as fat as they can be, for they 
have been successful in walrus-hunting of 
late. No wonder that the perspiration is 
running down my face I The natives feel 
the heat, too, for they are all half-naked — 
the baby entirely so ; but they seem to like 
itr 

^^What a chattering, to be sure I I am 
trying to take notes, and Myouk’s wife is 
staring at me with her mouth wide open. It 
is a wonder she can open her eyes at all, her 
cheeks are so fat. The captain is trying, by 
the language of signs, to get our host to un- 
derstand that we are much in want of fresh 
meat. Sam Baker is making himself agree- 
able to the young people, and the plan he 
has hit upon to amuse them is to show them 
his watch, and let them hear it tick. Truly, 
I have seldom seen a happier family group 
than this Eskimo household, under their 
snowy roof! 

There is to be a grand walrus-hunt to- 
morrow. We shall accompany them, and see 
whether our endurance on a long march, and 
and our powers with the rifle, cannot impress 
them with some respect for us. At present 


116 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


they have not much. They seem to think 
us a pale-faced set of helpless creatures. 

Wednesday night , — W e have just returned 
from the hunt ; and a -tremendous hunt it 
was I Six walrus and two bears have been 
killed, and the whole village is wild with 
delight. Cooking is going on in every hut. 
But they have no patience. Nearly^every 
one is munching away at a lump of raw wal- 
rus flesh. All their faces are more or less 
greasy and bloody. Even MyoukVbaby — 
though not able to speak — is choking itself 
with a long, stringy piece of blubber. The 
dogs, too, have got their share. An Eski- 
mo’s chief happiness seems to be iu eating, 
and I cannot wonder at it, for the poor crea- 
tures have hard work to get food, and they 
are often on the verge of starvation. 

What a dirty set they are ! I shall never 
forget the appearance of Myouk’s hut when 
we entered it this evening after returning 
from the hunt. The man’s wife had made 
the wick of her stone lamp as long as possi- 
ble in order to cook a largS supper. There 
were fifteen people crowded together in this 
hive of snow, and the heat had induced 
them to throw off the greater part of their 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


117 


clotliing. Every hand had a greasy lump 
of bear or walrus meat in it ; every mouth 
was in full, occupation, and every fat face, 
of man, woman, and child, was beaming with 
delight, and covered with dirt and oil I 

The captain and I looked at each other 
and smiled as we entered, and Sam Baker 
laughed- outright. This set all the natives 
laughing, too. We did not much relish the 
idea of supping and sleeping in such a place 
-^but necessity has no law. W e were hun- 
gry as hawks, desperately tired, and the 
temperature outside is 35° below zero. The 
first duty of the night is now over. We 
have supped. The natives will continue to 
eat the greater part of the night. They eat 
till they fall asleep ; if they chance to awake 
they eat again. Half of them are asleep 
now, and snoring. The other half are eat- 
ing slowly, for they are nearly full. The 
heat and smell are awful I I am perspiring 
at every pore. We have taken off as much 
of our clothes as decency will permit. Sam 
has on a pair of trousers — nothing more. I 
am in the same state ! There is little room, 
as may be supposed. We have to lie hud- 
dled up as we best can, and a strange sight 


118 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


we are as the red light of the flaring lamp 
falls on ns. At this moment Myonk’s wife 
is cutting a fresh steak. The youngest boy 
is sound asleep with a lump of fat between 
his teeth. The captain is also sou^df^th 
his legs sprawling over the limbs of half a 
dozen slumbering natives. He is using the 
baby as a pillow. It is curious to think that 
these poor creatures always live in this way. 
Sometimes feasting, sometimes starving. 
Freezing out on the floes; stewing under 
their roofs of snow. Usually fat ; for the 
most part jolly ; always dirty L 

It is sad, too, to think of this ; for it is a 
low condition for human beings to live in. 
They seem to have no religion at all. Cer- 
tainly none that is worthy of the name. I 
am much puzzled when I think of the diffi- 
culties in the way of introducing Christianity 
among these northern Eskimos. Ho mis- 
sionary could exist in such a climate and in 
such circumstances. It is with the utmost 
difficulty that hardy seamen can hold out 
for a year, even with a ship-load of com- 
forts. But this is too deep a subject to write 
about to-night ! I can’t keep my eyes open. 
1 will, therefore, close my note-book and lie 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


119 


down to sleep — perhaps to be-^suffocated I I 
hope not I” 

Accordingly, our young friend the doctor 
did die down to sleep, and got through the 
night without being suffocated. Indeed he 
slept so soundly that Captain Harvey could 
scarcely rouse him next morning. 

** Hallo ! Tom ! Tom f cried he loudly, at 
the same time shaking his nephew’s arm 
violently. 

^^Ay I eh I” and a tremendous yawn from 
Tom. ‘‘What now, uncle? Time to rise, is 
it ? where am I ?” 

“ Time to rise I” replied the captain, laugh- 
ing. “ I should think it is. Why, it’s past 
eleven in the forenoon. The stars are bright 
and the sky clear. The aurora, too, is 
shining. Come, get up! The natives are 
all outside watching Sam while he packs 
our sledge. The ladies are going about the 
camp whisking their tails and whacking 
their babies in great glee, for it is not every 
day they enjoy such a feed as they had last 
night.” 

In half an hour they were ready. The 
whole village turned out to see them start. 
Myouk, with his wife Oomia, and the baby, 


120 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


and his son Meetek, accompanied them to 
Eefuge Harbor. Oomia’s baby was part of 
herself. She could not move without it I It 
was always naked, but being stuffed into the 
hood of its mother’s fur coat, it seemed 
always warm. 

say, Tom, what’s that up in the sky?” 
said Captain Harvey suddenly, after they 
had been driving for a couple of hours. It’s 
the strangest looking thing I ever did see.” 

^^So it is,” replied Gregory, gazing in- 
tently at the object in question, which 
seemed high up in the air. ** It can’t be a 
comet, because it gives no light.” 

Perhaps not, but it has got a tail, that’s 
a fact,” said Baker in a voice of surprise. 
^^Who ever heard of a dark, four-cornered 
star with a tail ? If I haA seen it in day- 
light, and in Merry England, I would have 
said it was a kite !” 

kite! nonsense,” cried the captain 
'^what in the world can it be?” 

Header, you shall find that out in the next 
chapter. 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


12l 


CHAPTEE X. 

THE TALE OF A KITE — A GREAT BEAR-FIGHT. 

T\7"HEN Mr. Mansell was left in charge 
* * of the brig, a heavy weight lay on 
his heart, and he could by no means take 
part in the preparations for tha theatricals 
which occupied the rest of the crew. He 
felt that life or death depended on the suc- 
cess of the captain in his search for fresh 
meat. Already most of the men were ill 
with scurvy, and some of them were alarm- 
ingly low. Nothing could save them but 
fresh meat, and when the first mate thought 
of the difficulties and dangers of a journey 
on the floes in such weather, and the uncer- 
tainty of the Eskimos being discovered, his 
heart misgave him. 

About an hour after the departure of Cap- 
tain Harvey on the Monday morning he 
took Davy Butts aside. 

Davy, ’’said he, you’ve been at work 
on these kites a long time. Are they nearly 
finished?” 

Quite finished, sir,” answered Butts. 

11 


122 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


'^Then get them up, for there is a good 
breeze. I shall try^them on our. small 
sledges. It will at least stir up and amuse 
the men.” 

Ten minutes after this, the crew were sum- 
moned on deck to witness an experiment. 
A small dog sledge lay on the hard snow 
beside the vessel, and near to this Davy 
Butts and Mr. Dicey were holding on to a 
stout line, at the end of which an enormous 
kite was pulling. 

This kite was square in shape, made of 
the thickest brown paper, and nearly six 
feet across. That its power was great was 
evident from the difficulty with which the 
two men held it. The-end of the line was 
fastened-i;o the -sledge. 

Now, boys, ease off line till it is taut, 
and then wait for the word,” said Davy 
Butts, jumping on to the sledge. '^Now — 
Let go !” 

Away went the sledge over the hard snow 
at the rate of three miles an hour, which 
soon increased to double that rate. Davy 
cheered and waved his arms. The men gave 
one loud “hurrah” of surprise and delight, 
and set off in mad pursuit. They were soon 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


123 


left behind. ^‘Hold on, Davy I” "Good- 
bye, Butts.” " Look out, mind the ridge !” 

The last warning was needful. The sledge 
was rushing furiously towards a long ridge 
of ice which rose in a sharp slope to a height 
of three feet, and descended on the other 
side to an equal depth, but without any 
slope. Davy saw his danger, but he did not 
dare to put out foot or hand to check his 
progress . Even if he had it would have been 
of no use. Up the slope he went as a sea- 
gull skims over a wave ; for one moment he 
was in the air — the next, he came down with 
a crash that nearly dislocated all his joints, 
and his teeth came together with a loud snap. 
(By good fortune his tongue was not between 
them!) The sledge was a strong one, and 
the thing was done so quickly and neatly 
that it did not upset. But now a large and 
rugged hummock lay right before him. To 
go against that would have been certain 
death, so Davy made up his mind at once, 
and jumped off at the smoothest part of the 
floe he could find. The lightened sledge 
sprang away like a rocket, and was brought 
up with a sudden jerk by the hummock. 

Of course the line broke, and the kite 


124 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


commenced to descend. It twirled and 
circled violently round, and at last went 
crash into an ice-berg, where it was broken 
to pieces ! 

Not 'so bad for a beginning,” said Man- 
sell, as poor Davy came back, looking very 
crest-fallen. ^^Now, Butts, come below. 
You have proved that the thing will do. 
Mr. Dicey, get yourself ready for a trip over 
the ice. Let three men prepare to accom- 
pany you. I shall send you off to-morrow.” 

Dicey, much surprised, went off to obey 
these orders ; and Mansell with the assistance 
of Butts fitted the second kite for the in- 
tended journey. He made a rough- guess at 
the-strength of itS'pull, and loaded the-sledge 
accordingly. Two' tail ropes were fastened 
to the last bar of the sledge for the men to 
hold on by and check its speed. A sort of 
anchor was made by which it could be stop- 
ped at any moment, and two stout poles with 
iron claws at the end of them were prepared 
for scraping over the snow and checking the 
pace. 

Next day all was ready. A trial was 
made, and the thing found to work admirably. 
The trial trip over, they bade their comrades 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


125 


farewell, and away tBey^went due south, in 
the 'direction where the native ‘village was 
supposed to"be. 

It was this remarkable-tow-horse that had 
filled Captain-Harvey and his -companions 
with so* much- surprise. The appearance of 
the 'Sledge immediately after with a- shout 
and a cheer from - Dicey and the mem ex- 
plained tho* mystery. 

Being so near the Eskimo camp they at 
once returned to it, in order to allow the 
newly arrived -party to rest, as well as to load 
their sledge with as much- fresh meat as it 
could carry ; for which supplies the captain 
took care to pay the natives with a few 
knives and a large quantity of- hoop-iron — 
articles that were much more- valuable to 
them than gold. As the wind could not be 
made to turn about to suit their convenience, 
the kite was brought down and given to-Davy 
to carry, and a team of native dogs were har- 
nessed to the sledge instead. On the fol- 
lowing day the united party set out on their 
return to the brig, which they reached in 
safety. 

Tom Gregory’s account of the Eskimos 
11 * 


126 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


'whoaccompanied them to their wooden home 
is 'amusing. His journal runs thus: — 

** The amazement of our -visitors is very 
great. Myouk, his wife and bahy, and his. 
son Meetek, are now our guests. When 
they first came in sight of the brig they 
uttered a wild shout — the men did so, at 
least — and tossed their arms and opened 
their eyes and mouths. They have never 
shut them since. They go all- round the 
vessel staring and gaping with.^ amazement. 
We have given them a number of useful 
presents, and intend to send them home 
loaded with gifts for their friends. It is 
necessary to make a good impression on 
them. Our lives depend very-much on the 
friendship -of these poor people. We find 
that they are terrible' thieves. A number 
of knives and a hatchet were missed — they 
were found hidden in Myouk’s sledge. We 
tried to prevail on Oomia to- sell her long 
boots. To our surprise she was quite will- 
ing to part with one, but nothing would 
induce her to give up the other. One of the 
men observed her steal a knife out of the 
cabin and hide it in the leg of her boot. 
The reason was now plain. We pulled off 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


127 


tiie boot witbout asking leave, and found 
there a large assortment of^articles stolen 
from us. Two or three knives, a spoon, a 
bit of 'hoop-iron, and a marline -spike. I 
have tried to make them understand, by 
signs, that this is very- wicked conduct, but 
they only laugh at me. They are- not in the 
least ashamed, and evidently regard stealing 
as no sin. 

^'We have shot a musk ox. There are 
many of these creatures in other parts of 
the Arctic regions, but this is the first we 
have seen ' here. He fell to my - rifle, and is 
now being devoured by ourselves and our 
dogs with great relish. He is -about the size 
of a very small -cow; has a large head, and 
enormously thick horns, which cover the 
whole top of his head, bend down towards 
his cheeks, and then curve up and outwards 
at the point. He is covered with long, brown 
hair, which almost reaches the ground, and 
has no tail worthy of the name. He' seems 
to be an-active and an-angry creature. When 
I wounded him he came at me- furiously, but 
had not pluck to charge home. As he turned 
away I gave him the shot that killed him. 


128 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


The meat is not bad, but it- smells strongly 
of musk. Walrus is better. 

Myouk and his son Meetek and I have 
had a most exciting - bear-hunt since we re- 
turned. I followed these men one day, as I 
thought them bold, active-looking fellows, 
who would be likely to show me good Es- 
kimo sport. And I was not disappointed. 

About two miles from the brig we came 
on fresh bear tracks. A glow of the aurora 
gave us plenty of light. ^ What is yon round 
white lump ?’ thought I. * A bear ? No, it 
must be a snow-wreath T Myouk did not 
think so, for he ran behind a lump of ice, 
and became^ excited. He made signs to me 
to remain there while he and his son should 
go and attack the bear. They were armed 
each with a long lance. I must say, when 
I remembered the size and strength of the 
polar bear, that I was surprised to find these 
men bold enough to attack him with such 
arms. I had my rifle, but determined not 
to use it except in case of necessity. I 
wished to see how the natives were accus- 
tomed to act. 

^^They were soon ready. Gliding swiftly 
from one lump of ice to another, they got 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


129 


near enougli to make a rush. I was disobe- 
dient I I followed; and when the rush was 
made I was not far behind them. The bear 
was a very large one. It uttered an angry 
growl on seeing the men running towards it, 
and rose on its hind legs to receive them. It 
stood nearly-eight feet high when in this^ po- 
sition, and looked" really a terrible monster. 
I stood still behind a hummock at a distance 
of about fifty yards, with my rifle ready. 

On coming close up the father and son 
separated, and approached the bear one on 
each side. This divided hie attention, and 
puzzled him very much ; for, when he made 
a motion as if he were going to rush at 
Myouk, Meetek flourished his spear, and 
obliged him to turn — then Myoiik made a 
demonstration, and turned him back again. 
Thus they were enabled to get close to its 
side before it could make up its mind which 
to attack. But the natives soon settled the 
question for it. Myouk-was on the bear’s 
right side, Meetek on its left. The father 
pricked it with the point of his lance. A 
tremendous roar followed, and the enraged 
animal turned towards him. This was just 
what he wanted, because it gave the son an 


130 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


opportunity of making a deadly tlirust.* 
Meetek was not elow to do it. He plunged 
kis lance deep into tke bear’s- heart, and it 
fell at once at full length, while a crimson 
stream poured out of the wound upon the 
snow. 

** While this fight was going on I might 
have-shot the animal through the^heart with 
great ease, for it was quite near to me, and 
when it got up on its hind legs US' broad 
chest presented a fine target. It was diffi- 
cult to resist the temptation to fire, but I 
wished to see the native manner of doing 
the thing from beginning to end, so -did not 
interfere. I was rewarded for my self-denial. 

**Half an hour later, while we were drag- 
ging the carcass towards the brig, we came 
unexpectedly upon another bear. Myouk 
and Meetek at once grasped their lances and 
ran forward to attack him. I now resolved 
to play them a trick. Besides my rifle I 
carried a large horse-pistol in my belt. This 
I examined, and, finding it all right, I fol- 
lowed close at the heels of the Eskimos. 
Bruin got up on his hind legs as before, and 

♦ See Frontispiece. 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


131 


tlie two men -advanced close to him. 1 
stopped when within, thirty yards, cocked 
my rifle and stood ready. Myouk was just 
going to -thrust with his lance when-^5aw^ / 
went my rifle. The bear Tell. It was shot 
right through the heart, but it struggled for 
some time after that. The natives seemed 
inclined to run away when they heard the 
shot, but I laughed and made signs of friend- 
ship. Then I went close up and shot the 
bear through the head with my pistol. This 
affair has filled my savage companions with 
deep- respect for me!’* 

These two bears were the 'last they ob- 
tained that winter ; but as a good supply of 
meat had been_obtained from the Eskimos, 
they were 4*elieved from - anxiety for the 
time, and the health of the men began to 
improve a little. But this happy state of 
things did not last till spring. These sorely 
tried men were destined to endure much 
suffering before the light of the sun came 
back to cheer their drooping spirits. 


132 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


CHAPTER XI. 


CHRISTMAS TIME — DEATH — RETURN OF LIGHT 
AND HOPE — DISASTERS AND FINAL DELI- 
VERANCE. 

HRISTMAS came at last, but with it 



came no bright sun to remind those 
ice-bound men of our Saviour — the “Sun 
of Righteousness” — whose birth the day 
commemorated. It was even darker than 
usual in Refuge Harbor on that Christmas- 
day. It was so dark at noon that one could 
not see any. object more than a few yards 
distant from the^eyes*^ A gale of wind from 
the nor’-west blew the snow-drift in whirl- 
ing ghost-like clouds round the Hope, so 
that it was -impossible to -face it for a- mo- 
ment. So intense was .the. cold that it felt 
likeeheets of -fire being driven against the 
face I- Truly it was a day well fitted to have 
depressed the heartiest of men. But man is 
a wonderful creature, not easy to^ compre- 
hend ! The very things that ought to have 
cast down the spirits of the men of the Hope, 
were the things that helped to cheer them. 

About this time, as I have said, the health 
of the crew had improved a little, so they 
were prepared to make the most of every- 
thing. Those feelings of- kindliness and 
good-will which warm the breasts of all 
right-minded men at this season of the year, 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


133 


filled our . Arctic voyagers to overflowiag 
Thoughts of -ihome” came crowding on 
them with a power that they had not felt at 
other times. Each man knew that on this 
day, more than any other day of that long 
dark winter, the talk round a well-known 
hearth in Merry England would be of one 
who was far, far away in the dark regions 
of -ice and snow. A tear or two that could 
not be forced back tumbled over rough 
cheeks which were not used to that kind of 
salt water ; and many a silent prayer went 
up to call down a blessing on the heads of 
dear ones at home. 

It blew great guns outside,” as Baker 
said, but what of that ? it was a dead calm 
in the cabin ! It was dark as a coal-hole on 
the floes. What then? it was bright as 
noon-day in the Hope! Ho sun blazed 
through the sky-light, to be sure, but a 
lamp, filled with fat, glared on the table, and 
a great fire of coal glowed in the stove. 
Both of these together did not make the 
place too warm, but there were fur coats and 
trousers and boots to help to defy the cold. 
The men were few in number and not likely 
to see many friends on that Christmas-day. 
All the more reason why they should, make 
the most of each other! Besides, they were 
wrong in their last idea about friends, for it 
chanced, on that very day, that Myouk the Es- 
kimo paid them a visit — quite ignorant of its 
12 


134 


FAST IN THE ICE, 


being- Cbristmas of course. Meetek was 
with hirU; and so was Oomia, and so was the 
baby — that remarkably fat, oily, naked 
baby, that seemed rather to enjoy the' cold 
than otherwise ! 

They had a plum-pudding that day. Butts 
said it was almost as big as the head of a 
walrus. They had also a roast of beef — 
walrus, beef of course — and first-rate it was. 
But before dinner the captain made them go 
through their usual morning work of - clean- 
ing, airing, making beds, . posting journals, 
noting temperatures, opening the fire-hole, 
and redding up. For the captain was a great 
believer in the value of discipline. He knew 
that no man enjoys himself so -much as he 
who has got -through his- work early — who 
has done his duty. It did not take them 
long, and when it was done the captain said, 
^‘Now, boys, we must be- jolly to-day. As 
we can’t get out, we must take some exer- 
cise indoors. We shall need extra appetite 
to make away with that plum-pudding.” 

So, at it they went ! Every sort of game 
or feat of strength known to sailors was 
played, or attempted. It was in the middle 
of all this that Myouk and his family arrived, 
so they were compelled to join. Even the 
fat baby was put into a blanket and swung 
round the cabin by Jim Croft, to the horror 
of its mother, who seemed to think it would 
be killed, and to the delight of its father, 


FAST IN THE ICE. 135 

who didn’t seem to care whether it was 
killed or. not. 

Then came the dinner. What a scene that 
was, to be sure ! It Would take a whole 
book to describe all that was said and done 
that day. The Eskimos ate till they could 
' hardly stand — ‘that was their usual- custom. 
Then they lay down and went to sleep — 
that was their usual custom, too. The 
rest ate as heartily, poor fellows, as was 
possible for men not yet quite recovered 
from scurvy. They had no wine, but they 
had excellent -coffee, and with this they 
drank to absent -friends, sweethearts and 
wives, and many other toasts, the mere men- 
tion of which raised such strong home-feel- 
ings in their breasts that some of them almost 
choked in the attempt to cheer. Then came 
songs and stories — all of them old, very old 
indeed — but they came out on this occasion 
as good as new. The great event of the 
evening, however, was a fancy ball, in which 
our friends Butts, Baker, Gregory, and Pep- 
per distinguished themselves. They, had a 
fiddle, and Dawkins the steward could play 
it. lie knew nothing but Scotch reels; but 
what could have been, better ? They could 
all dance, or, if they could not, they all tried. 
Myouk and Meetek were made to join and 
they capered as gracefully as -polar bears, 
which animals they strongly -resembled in 
their hairy garments. Late in the evening 


136 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


came supper. It was just a repetition of din- 
ner, with the remains of the pudding fried in 
bear’s grease. 

Thus passed Christmas Day ; much in the 
same way passed New Yearns Day. Then 
the men settled down to their old style of 
life; but the time hung so heavy on their 
hands that their spirits began to sink again. 
The long darkness became intolerable and 
the fresh meat began to fail. Everything 
with life seemed to have forsaken the place. 
The captain made another trip to the Eski- 
mo village and found the huts -empty — the 
whole race had flown, he knew- not whither I 
The private theatricals were at first very 
successful; but by degrees they lost their 
interest and were given up. Then a. school 
was started and Gregory became head master. 
Writing and arithmetic were the only 
branches taught. Some of the men were 
much in need of instruction, and all of them 
took to the school with energy and much 
delight. It lasted longer than the theatricals 
did. As time wore on the fresh meat was 
finished, scurvy became worse ; and it was 
as much as the men who were not - quite 
knocked down could do to attend to those 
who were. Day after day Tom and- Gregory 
and Sam Baker went out to hunt, and each 
day returned empty-handed. Sometimes an 
Arctic hare or a fox was got; but not- often. 
At last rats were eaten as food. These 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


137 


creatu/Ss swarmed in tlie hold of the brig. 
They were caught in traps and shot with a 
bow and a blunt-headed arrow. But few of 
the men would eat them. The captain urged 
them to do so in vain. Those who did eat 
kept in better health than those who did not. 

At last death came. Mr. Mansell sank 
beneath the terrible disease and was buried 
on the island. No grave could be dug in 
that hard frozen soil. The burial -service 
was read by his sorrowing comrades over his 
body, which was -frozen quite hard before 
they reached the grave, and then they laid 
it in a tomb of ice. 

Time hung heavier than ever after that. 
Death is at all times a terrible visitant, but 
in such a place and in such circumstances it 
was tenfold more awful than usual. The 
blank in so small a .band was a great one. It 
would perhaps havo depressed them more 
than it did-^had their own situation been less 
desperate. But they had too fierce a battle 
to fight with disease, and the midnight 
gloom, and the bitter frost, to. give way to 
much feeling about him who was gone. 

Thus the long winter passed heavily away. 

The sun came back at last, and when he 
came his beams shone upon a pale, shattered, 
and heart-weary band of men. But with his 
cheering light came also hope, and health 
soon followed in his train. Let young Greg- 
12 * 


138 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


ory’s journal tell the rest of our story, little 
of which now remains to be told. 

‘^February 21st . — I have to- record, with 
joy and gratitude, that the sun shone on the 
peaks of the ice- bergs to-day. The first time 
it has doim so since ' October last, the 
end of this month we shall have his rays on 
deck. I climbed to the -top of a berg and 
actually bathed in sunshine this forenoon ! 
W e are all quite excited by the event, some 
of us even look jolly. Ah ! what miserable 
faces my comrades have I so pale, so thin I 
"We are all as weak as water. The captain 
and I are the strongest. Baker is also pretty 
well. Crofts and Davis are almost -useless, 
the rest are quite helpless. The .captain 
cooks, Baker and I hunt, Crofts and Davis 
attend to the sick. Another month of dark- 
ness would have killed the half of us. 

March lOtJi . — I shot a bear to-day. It 
did my heart good to see the faces of the 
men when I brought them the news and a 
piece of the flesh ! The cold is not quite so 
intense now. Our coldest day this year has 
been the 17th of January. The glass stood 
at 67° below zero on that morningf What 
a winter we have had ! I shudder when 1 
think of it. But there is more- cause to be 
anxious about what yet lies before us. A 
single bear will not last long. Many weeks 
must pass before we are free. In June wo 
hope to be released from our ice-prison. 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


139 


Fresh meat we shall then have in abundance. 
With it strength will return, and then, if 
God permits, we shall attempt to. continue 
our voyage northward. The captain is . con- 
fident on the point of open water round the 
Pole. The men are game for anything in 
spite of their sad condition.” 

Thus wrote Gregory at that date. Many 
weeks later we find him writing as follows: — 
June l^th . — ^Free at last! The ice has 
been breaking up out at sea for some time 
past. It gave way in Eefuge Harbor yes- 
terday, and we warped out in the night. 
Everything is ready to push north again. 
We have been feeding heartily for many 
weeks on walrus, seals, wild-fowl, and last, 
but not least, on some grasses which make 
bad greens, but they have put scurvy to 
flight. All the men are well and strong and 
fit for hard work — though nothing like what 
they were when we first came here. Could 
it be otherwise ? There are some of us who 
will carry the marks of this winter to our 
graves. The bright beautiful sunlight shines 
now, all day and all night, cheering our 
hearts and inspiring hope. 

‘‘ June IQth . — All is lost ! How little we 
know what a day may bring forth ! Our 
good little brig is gone, and we are here on 
the ice without a thing in the world except 
the clothes on our backs. I have saved my 
note-book, which chanced to be in my breast- 


140 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


pocket when the- nip took place. How 
awfully sudden it was ! We now appreciate 
the wise forethought of Captain Harvey in 
sending the large boat to Forlorn-Hope Bay. 
This boat is our last and only. hope. We 
shall have to walk forty miles before we 
reach it. 

Our brig went down at three o’clock this 
afternoon. We had warped out into the 
floes to catch a light breeze that was blow- 
ing outside. For some time we held on 
steadily to the northward, but had not got 
out of sight of our winter quarters when a 
stream of-ice set down upon -us and a)losed in 
all round. At first we thought - nothing of 
this, having escaped so many dangers of the 
kind last autumn, but by degrees the- pres- 
sure increased alarmingly. We were jammed 
against a great ice-field which was still fast 
to the shore. In a few moments the- sides 
of our little vessel began to creak and groan 
loudly. The men labored like tigers at the 
ice-poles, but in vain. We heard a loud 
report in the cabin. Ho one knows what it 
was, but I suppose it must have been the 
breaking of a large bolt. At any. rate it was 
followed by a series of .crashes and. reports 
that left no doubt in our minds as to what 
was going on. The ice was X3racking the 
brig as if she had been a nut-shell. “Save 
yourselves, lads I” cried the captain. One 
or two of the men made a rush to the hat^fi'' 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


141 


way, intending to rnn below and save some 
of tbeir things. I ran to the cabin-ladder in 
the hope of saving our log-book and jour- 
nals, but we all started back in horror, for 
the deck at that moment burst open almost 
under our feet. I cast one glance down 
through the opening into the hold. That 
glance was^snfficient. The massive timbers 
and -beams were being crushed together, 
doubled up, split, and shivered, as if they 
had been rotten straws ! In another moment 
I was on the ice, where the whole crew were 
assembled, looking on at the work of de- 
struction in solemn silence. 

** After bursting in the vessel’s sides the 
ice eased off*, and she at once began to settle 
down. We could hear the water rushing 
furiously into the hold. Ten minutes later 
she was gone Thus end our hopes of far- 
ther discovery, and we are now left to fight 
our way in an open boat to the settlements 
on the south coast of Greenland. We have 
little time to think. Prompt action must be 
our watchword, now, if we would, escape 
from this world of ice. 

July 20th . — I have not entered a line in 
this journal since our vessel was lost. Our 
work has been so severe, and our sufferings 
4 S 0 great, that I have had no heart for writing. 
Our walk to the place where we left the boat 
was a hard one, but we were cheered by 
finding the boat all safe, and the provisions 


142 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


and stores jnst as we left them. There was 
not enough to last out the voyage, but we 
had guns and powder. It is in vain to at- 
tempt to describe the events of the last, few 
weeks. Constant, and hard, and cold work 
— at the oars, with the ice-poles — warping, 
hauling, and shoving. Beset by ice ; driving 
before storms ; detained by thick fogs ; often 
wet to the skin ; always tired, almost starv- 
iug-^such has been our fate since that sad 
day when our brig went down.- And yet I 
don’t think there is one of our party who 
would not turn about on the spot and renew 
our voyage of discovery, if he only got a 
chance of going in a well-appointed vessel. 
As it is, we must push on. Home I home I 
is our cry, now. 

August Is^.Ar-We are now in clover, after 
having been reduced to think of roasting 
our shoes for breakfast. ‘ For three days last 
week we ate nothing at all. Our powder 
has been expended for some weeks past. On 
Monday we finished our last morsel of the 
gull that Pepper managed to bring down 
with a stone. Tuesday was a terrible day. 
The agony of hunger was worse than I had 
expected it to be. Nevertheless, we- tried 
hard to cheer each other, as we -labored at 
the oars. Our only hope was to fall in with 
natives. Signs of them were .seen every- 
where, and we expected to hear their shouts 
at every point of land we doubled. The 


PAST IN THE ICE. 


143 


captain suggested that we should^ try shoe- 
soup on Wednesday morning ! He was more 
than half in earnest, but spoke as if he were 
jesting. Pepper cocked his ears as if there 
was some hope still of work for him to do 
in his own line. Jim Crofts pulled off his 
shoe, and, looking at it earnestly, wondered 
if the sole would make a very tough chop. 
We all laughed, but I cannot say that the 
laugh sounded hearty. On the Thursday I 
began to feel weak, but the pangs of hunger 
were not -so bad. Our eyes seemed very- 
large and wolfish. I could not help shud- 
dering when I thought of the terrible things 
that men have done when- reduced to this 
state. 

" That evening, as we rounded a point, we 
saw an Eskimo boy high on a cliff, with a 
net in his hand. He did not see us for some 
time, and we were so excited that we stopped 
rowing to watch him in breathless silence. 
Thousands of birds were flying round his 
head among the cliffs. How,, often we had 
tried to kill some of these Avith sticks and 
stones, in vain ! The net he held was a round 
one, with a long handle. Suddenly he made 
a dashing sweep with it, and caught two of 
the birds as they passed ! W e now saw that 
a number of dead birds lay at his feet. In 
one moment our boat was ashore, and we 
scrambled up the cliffs in ea^er haste. The 
boy fled in terror, but before ne was well out 


144 


FAST IN THE ICE. 


of sight every man was seated on a ledge of 
rock with a bird at his mouth, sucking the 
blood ! Hunger like ours despises cookery ! 
It was fortunate that there were not many 
birds, else we should have done, ourselves 
harm by eating too much. I have eaten 
many a good meal in my life, but never one 
so sweet, or for which I was so thankful, as 
that meal of raw birds, devoured on the cliffs 
of Greenland! 

That night we reached the-Eskimo vih 
lage, where we now lie. We find that it is 
only two days’ journey from this place to the 
Danish settlements. There we mean to get 
on board the first ship that is bound for Eu- 
rope— no matter what -port she sails for. 
Meanwhile we rest our weary limbs in peace, 
for our dangers are past, and — thanks be to 
God — we are saved.” 

* * * * 

Eeader, my tale is. told. A little book 
cannot be made to contain a long story, else 
would I have narrated many more of the 
strange and interesting events that befell our 
adventurers during that voyage, f But enough 
has been written to give some, idea of what 
is done and suffered by those daring men 
who attempt to navigate the' Polar seas. 


THE END. 


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